The question is - what to do and what to avoid to limit the damage and to give our species yet another chance to realise its positive potential. Nature will do its worst unless we do our best.

Three things seem to me to be quite basic to our human self-rescue project:

1) we should not be diverted by escapist creeds loudly proclaimed by self-appointed know-alls. Anyone who 'knows the Will of God' or who 'has discovered the Laws of Historical Development' should be given a very wide berth indeed. We do not know what to do; we can only proceed by fallible commonsense inference from incompletely observed fact. We've little time left in which to gamble on the truth of some Grand Theory or other.

2) Grand Theory usually means suffocating tyranny imposed on the rest of us by the Grand Theorists so our second need is to defend and extend civil rights and liberties. Only if these rights and liberties are secured will the naturally diverse and untidy creativity of our species be available for the easing of the various problems that, on Professor Duiguid's prognosis, must necessarily be on our agenda.

3) During the contraction - be it imposed by nature upon us or be it foreseen and managed intelligently by us - a lot of people will undergo a lot of sufffering and the more fortunate among us will simply have to help the less fortunate if human dignity is to prevail. We will have to turn our backs on at least three easy evasions of this personal responsibility to others ..... reliance upon the benign state ..... worship of market forces ..... and the glib piety of 'god will provide" .... (in the next world anyway) if you believe the right things in this world. These are all failed evasions of personal responsibility for one another and for our common home.

Beliefs and banners do not usually give much prominence to tolerant pluralism, compassion and the avoidance of seductive 'certainties' but it is precisely these things we need if millions are not to be hurt by the imposition of minority 'principles'.