Progress Report

Captain's Log, Stardate 2445.3

Our mission to repair the critical time-line breach progresses. My covert return to 21st Century Earth is yielding useful information. Inhabitants of this era are, as history records, remarkably irrational. Their society is chaotic and one readily grasps how The Second Civil War started in 2029. If it wasn't for First Contact with orbiting Vulcan spacecraft during that intractable war it's doubtful this planet would have survived in any time-line. Humans possess enough technology to save or destroy their world but seem to lack sufficient wisdom to avoid the latter fate.

Universal skills promoting peace and self-development (e.g., empathy, compassion) are in short supply here. Instead of confronting the real cause of political oppression (an entrenched economic class system) people quarrel with others in similar or worse circumstances as they compete for limited resources. Without insight or unity these Earthlings can't understand or correct their plight. Anxiety and rage are on full display in public places, especially roadways, where motorists recklessly vie to "get somewhere" at faster speed than prudent. This species cannot be trusted with warp-drive energy prior to receiving extensive genetic augmentation. (See, however, Khan Noonien Singh.)

My plan to infiltrate the existing power structure continues. I've mastered cultural knowledge necessary to persuade numerous inhabitants to assist me in this effort. My next move is to acquire a professional sporting team since athletics is valued here not for personal achievement but as secular religion with rituals and mystical significance. Fans worship "the baseball gods" and related deities. Sports gambling, once forbidden, now flourishes openly. The majority of young men now divert scarce long-term investment capital to bet on sporting events where, predictably, they lose their money. Loss of such funds cripples the imprudent leading to widespread poverty and social instability. Humans, it appears, do not comprehend the well-established Dunning-Kruger Effect.

Captain out.