In much of modern life we value the present much higher than either the past or the future; the latter because, if we'd like our descendants to remember where they came from, we would need to leave them a legacy — which we’re clearly not prepared to do, either in our personal and civic lives. So in this episode we consider some of the range of areas afflicted by this timeline poverty, and how this focus on the ‘now’ threatens the whole prospect of a legacy for our species as a result of both climate change and international aggression.

Links: UN video & Thought for the Day 2 March 2004 (BBC Radio 4)

Background music: Turn by The Tower of Light

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