Aristotle, the first great scientist, was convinced that man’s civilization had been "brought to perfection several times in history and then almost entirely lost and forgotten".

Plato - who was smarter than the rest of us because he had access to inside information - wrote of the repeated destruction and rebirth of the human race. After world-devastating floods, crushing famines or all-out wars, the sorry remnants of humanity struggled desperately to repopulate their race and re-invent their lost civilzation. Then they lived in opulence and luxury - and steadily degenerated until the next global catastrophe set them straight again.


It’s high time we stopped teaching school children institutionalized fairy tales about ancient history. Our real ancestors did not live in dark, thoroughly depressing caves and scratch for grubs under rotten logs. Instead they experienced the music, laughter and bright sunshine of civilizations far in advance of ours, and we can now prove this by comparisons with our own high technology society (the objective of this book).

It is irresponsible to hide the invaluable lessons of history from our kids because it’s obvious that we are getting ready to destroy ourselves again. Endless wars, worldwide plagues and climate disasters can easily wipe us out. And this time around we are so numerous, powerful and ignorant that it could be the end of all of us.