The Templeton Prize is quite a spectacular achievement. This acceptance speech was given within the living memory of people in their 50's and older, and it was

The Templeton Prize is quite a spectacular achievement. This acceptance speech was given within the living memory of people in their 50's and older, and it was a kind of defining expression of late Cold War culture in America. It was bleak, but in response to having escaped the bleakness that overtook much of the world in the 20th century, and which at the time threatened to dominate it. It would be interesting to consider whether any of its warnings came true, and perhaps equally interesting if its views were verboten and too controversial to speak about even in the abstract. If this acceptance speech were too uncomfortable today, that might be something worthy of reflection.