In contrast to other animals, we have the ability to construct projections of the future in our minds, learn from the past and communicate it to each other - bu

In contrast to other animals, we have the ability to construct projections of the future in our minds, learn from the past and communicate it to each other - but our predictive power over complex systems is weak and short term, the incentives that drive our behaviour are very short term. Broadly speaking, we cannot see or act in a way that optimises outcomes over multiple generations, at the population scale the planet now carries. Evolution hasn't been able to optimise our reward pathways for preventing pollution or over-population, which both carry a risk of collapsing our ecosystems over time. Another significant risk that is yet to emerge is hacking evolution itself - runaway genetic engineering could have disastrous results. While the Haber–Bosch process of extracting Nitrogen from the atmosphere into a soluble form was a revolution in farming, it was also responsible for much of today's overpopulation. Probably the most impactful invention of the 20th century, if measured by population growth. Ironically, Haber was also the inventor chemical warfare (he developed chlorine gas, mustard gas, Zyklon B).