"Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic." - Thomas Szasz The great minds of any time period must be influenced by something. If you look back at historical science fiction much of what is portrayed as "21st century technology" has come true. Flat screen television, touch interface, (limited) holograms, space travel, and experiments like the ones being performed at CERN only prove that humanity is capable of great things. The point, of all this, is to portray the fact that really anything is possible. Stop and take that in for a minute. If you really want something to happen, say something "impossible" and you get enough people to sit and think about it for a long enough period of time, experiment, research, and work toward making that idea possible, it can be done. I believe, as a generality, most people don't consider this when looking at science, technology, or world problems. It has been said that humanity can not advance to the next "technological plateau" if you will, until each and every member of the human race can posses the power to destroy all of us and be trusted to not use it. The question must never be "can it be done?" Instead ask "At what cost can it be done?"