Bruce Sterling -- WorldChanging Ally #1, Viridian Pope-Emperor, and Host of the Most Kick-Ass Party in Austin -- gave one of his patented rants at this year's South-by-SouthWest. The official text of the presentation isn't yet available on the web, but the ubiquitous and talented Cory Doctorow wrote an "impressionistic transcription." Having seen Bruce deliver a number of previous talks, I think that Cory definitely caught the spirit of the moment; we'll worry about the precise wording of the rant later.

Go. Read it. Now!

Coming up: Martin Rees, a UK scientist thinks that the chances of our civilization surviving the 21st century are 50-50. I've met him, he's got his facts straight.

I'm cheered up by that! 50-50! Those are great damned odds. This
year was the 50th anniversary of the Bikini Atoll test, since the
crust-busting bomb was invented, and we haven't blown ourselves
up. We're up to 50-50! And my personal chances of making it to
2100 are 99.995 against. I'll spend the rest of my life watching
people work on this thing and die without knowing if they pull it
off. It's exciting, a fantastic spectacle. If it were guaranteed,
life would be just a little dull.

We've got the power to save ourselves or screw ourselves up.