We are rushing towards another precipice, where the disparities in wealth between nations would trigger violent revolution within States.

The United States also operates a new vehicle designed for science missions at abyssal depth, the Odyssey II , intended for survey operations.

That is an even more menacing notion as it applies to South Africa, where the apartheid regime created far too wide a gap between blacks and whites.

With its pursuit of research into the farthest reaches of the universe deep space South Africa hopes to provide further proof that Africans can compete at all levels.

The cities of Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva have been known far and wide since time immemorial and have had trade links stretching from China to Spain and from Europe to the Indian Ocean.

If that is the future we want, we should stride toward it with full awareness and a sense of purpose, not meander carelessly until we fall into a hole, look up, and wonder how we got there.