Poe Quote of the Day, Monday, 9 July 2007

"I have no faith in human perfectability. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not more happy - nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago."
-- Edgar Allan Poe

This is a rather bleak assessment of the human condition, but it is
quite hard to argue with. Mankind seems to be dead set on destroying
itself. At each point in history when we have a chance to step away
from the brink, it seems we just edge even closer to it. I hope that
Poe and I are wrong. But I fear that we are not.

Strangely enough, after posting the above quote, Kurzweil.com sent me an e-mail about this story in the NY Times. I think you will notice the synchronistic nature of this.
NY Times on The Case Against Perfection