Ever since Europeans landed on North American soil the push to tomorrow and beyond has been a driving goal. The race from the East coast to the West Coast was followed by a race to the moon and outer space. The race within and into the mysteries of sub atomic particles is the latest venture that’s causing us to have to re-think a lot of what we once thought: and that’s hard to do!
I just finished reading a book that was printed in 1994 and the author (writing it in 91-92?) was talking about his typewriter keys? Say what? Youngsters today have no clue about “white-out” or other paraphernalia such as a typewriter. How far we have gone and how fast we’re doing such makes the head swim.
Dora van Gelder Kunz writes, “Today the winds of change are gusting through our world, blowing away many old prejudices, unsettling the stability of institutions and the endurance of TRUTHS long taken for granted. There is every sign that we are at the DAWN of a new era of human discovery and accomplishment.” To which I would say that we’re just in time! 
We can’t wait much longer to save the planet and thus ourselves.
Thus in the end, the discussions and thoughts about 12.21.2012 have more to do with the psyche and the spirituality of we humanoids than it does about what might be coming forth from within this terra nova or that which might unsettle things from the deep voids of space: or, just ninety three million miles out there (the sun). We are simultaneously breaking through the frontiers of outer space as well as unseen spaces within the subatomic world and we’re astounded.
Werner Heisenberg wrote, “If someone says that they have studied quantum physics and they not shocked and surprised, they’ve not really studied quantum physics”.
We are on a very fast learning track and those who see the world as “business as usual” will soon awaken to having no business or having their business owned and operated by the United States government (can you say General Motors?). But more importantly than that, what’s the world going to look line in the next three years? Does anyone know what time it is (Chicago), does anyone really care?
We should!
As a spiritual-futurist, I have a BA degree majoring in history. One cannot know the future without knowing the past which holds clues to what is on the horizon. The world is in such a rapid expansion of knowledge that we are close to entering a tipping point that will forever change earth as we know it.