For a long time I thought the number one problem in the world was over-population. Just think about the difference it would make if we had only one-tenth of the current seven billion people sharing the globe. There would be no food or water shortages, no energy crisis, no significant global warming, no lack of natural resources and fewer wars fought to acquire them, far less pollution, far less deforestation, no depletion of fish stocks in the sea, and on and on. Over-population is a very serious problem. It is unsustainable and will eventually result in the complete destruction of society and the planet. But it is not humanity's biggest problem.

There is a problem even more serious, and that is greed and self righteousness - wanting to take more than what is fair and the attitude that me and mine are more important than you and yours. Greed and self righteousness result in the unfair distribution of wealth, tyrants dominating whole populations, suicide bombers, wars to control natural resources, persecution of minorities and those with different opinions, religious wars and sectarian violence, poverty and a lack of opportunity which results in crime and starvation - and again the list goes on and on. The lack of fairness is what prevents us from living in peace and prosperity. Greed is a crime against humanity.

But even greed and self righteousness are not the biggest problem. When it comes right down to it, all the socioeconomic problems in the world can be traced to one source: Ignorance.

If everyone understood that over-population is unsustainable and will eventually result in the destruction of our planet, they would not want to contribute to over population because they wouldn't want their children and grandchildren to live in a world of chaos and destruction. Ignorance is maintained through control of institutions and the media, where whole populations are been taught to hate other populations, ie., capitalists vs. communists, black vs. white, Musilum vs. Hindu, Suni vs. Shia, East vs. West, etc. Anyone familiar with the brainwashing occurring in North Korea will understand how lies and disinformation can turn whole countries into enthusiastic warriors ready and willing to die for an institution which oppresses them. Ignorance is responsible for the masses allowing the insanely unfair distribution of wealth in the world and everyone working twice as much as required to maintain a decent standard of living. Only now are the sleeping masses in the US and much of the industrialized world waking up to the brainwashing which has made us all slaves.

Technology has existed since the 1950s which would enable a vehicle the size of an SUV to get 100 miles per gallon of gasoline (see the film GasHole). There is also evidence that vehicles have been created which use electricity to separate the hydrogen and oxygen in water as you drive in order to burn the hydrogen - using water as fuel and producing no pollution (do an Internet search on Stanley Myers or water fueled cars for more info). Most of these inventors died mysteriously shortly after going public. Can you imagine what the world would be like, particularly in third world countries, if essentially free energy systems had not been suppressed?

Most people believe they have an open mind, but we should all realize that we don't. How long have you believed that free markets and capitalism were the best way to go, all the while feeling bad about homelessness and unemployment but simply accepting them as inevitable? Intuition tells all of us such a situation is wrong, yet our institutions and the media convince us Americans that we have the best system in the world, so we just go along with the flow. We don't stop to think. Religion and government tell us mood altering drugs are evil and those who use them belong in prison, while 20% of the population is addicted to pharmaceutical antidepressants - mood altering drugs that often produce serious side effects, but are perfectly OK because we buy them from an industry with one of the most powerful lobbying machines in Washington. Nearly a quarter of all Americans are addicted to legal, mood altering drugs, stumbling through life with their emotions shut off, simply shaking their heads when injustice occurs. What tyrant wouldn't envy that situation?

The biggest problem facing humanity is ignorance. When truth and knowledge of better solutions replace ignorance and greed the world will change, and that is the entire purpose of this book.

      Someday this world will live as one
      All this ignorance and greed will all be done
      When someday comes and the old will teach their youth
      To speak the same language, and seek the same truth
            (from my song, Someday)