Facing Unprecedented Challenges: Mankind in the Eighties

We are about to leave 1980 -- a dark and embattled year -- and a decade of conflict and concern. We are entering a period that will represent a new phase in human history a decade full of events and developments that we cannot yet measure. And we are entering this new decade with a certain hope, but with many worries. What I will say will be divided into three parts. The first one will consist of some preliminary observations about the furture. The second will review certain negative influences that drag our society downward -- the danger side of the challenge of the eighties. The third part will discuss some exigencies -- some imperatives -- that should be perceived and understood, and responded to, if we are to turn around the situation that worries us -- the opportunity side of the challenge of the eighties.