by Ari Franklinos

Created on: May 09, 2009

CITIES IN THE SKY

Once upon a time there was a group of cities in the sky held together in position by a weak and much misunderstood force they called gravity. This miraculous force kept them at the perfect distance from their life source, the sun, for their citizens to live comfortably. If they were nearer the sun they would be killed by the excessive heat and if they were further away they would die of cold. The situation was so finely tuned that there was no room for error and many wondered what would happen if this benign force that held them in place was suddenly terminated and the cities with their people set free to float aimlessly through the universe. If a house collapses, it can be rebuilt. But if those cities in the sky housing billions were to become uninhabitable, there would be nowhere else to go and humanity

along with all life would come to end.

It was an uncomfortable thought that people put to the back of their minds, knowing they could do nothing in such an eventuality. Because of this, not many bothered to think of ways to prevent such an irreversible catastrophe. Noone bothered to educate humanity into doing things that would protect their unique environment on which all known life depended. Even the leaders of the cities did nothing, concerning themselves only with short-term policies and the general well-being of their respective people. The majority got on with the business of everyday life, without taking a long-term view of the need to protect their high-risk environment.

The people in all these cities had one abiding trait which was recognised late in their history by a philosopher. "There is only one instinct in all life," he had discovered, "the Will to Power." He proved to everyone who bothered to read him that whatever human activity was involved, it could be reduced by logical steps to a common denominator, the Will to Power. In the same way that weeds under a tree battle for supremacy to overcome each other and get more sunlight so they can grow to their full potential, so humans battle in various ways to overcome one another in their relentless search for power, survival and domination.

Gradually it became clear why throughout millenia of history people did exactly the same things. They went to war, killed each other's men, women and children and then, when everyone was exhausted from the effort they stopped, spent a few years getting their strength back and on one pretext or another started fighting again.

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