Big Picture Evolutionary Futures and the Purposeful Evolution of Consciousness

We are entering a whole new age—beyond previous Agricultural, Industrial, and Information Ages—with many new disruptive technologies; ongoing social and economic transformations; numerous earth crises; global challenges to democracy and world wide cooperation; a needed push toward whole systems thinking to effectively deal with world challenges; and new advances in space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence. After reviewing these challenges and opportunities, the theory will be presented that the key, most effective pathway forward is the purposeful evolution of consciousness. All of our major problems are due to failures and limitations in human consciousness, and in order to best take advantage of the incredible opportunities facing us we need to put much greater emphasis on thoughtfully and intentionally evolving our consciousness.