Whenever I attempt to do anything pro bono humani generis, I am quickly disappointed by the results. Actually, there are hardly any results worth talking about in spite of my advancing age. As my failures keep piling up, I wonder ever more often about my proclivities. Is it not high time to call it quits? Have I not accumulated enough evidence about the uselessness of my attempts? And then it crosses my mind that I could abandon all hope for the very same reason: pro bono humani generis. Bingo! Out of the blue, I feel that I am onto something. Something big. More, something glorious. Doing nothing with a laudable cause, no less.

Addendum I (March 29, 2015)

I woke up this morning with this Latin expression on my lips. Having repeated it to myself a few times, I went to my Residua website to check it out, for I remembered that I had written something about it only recently. I found this piece in a jiffy, and I rejoiced at my argument. Abandoning all hope pro bono humani generis, I kept repeating to myself. And joy returned to my heart. Behold, the magical formula!

Addendum II (September 30, 2018)

The predicament of the human species boils down to the gap between the human ability to act and the human ability to understand the consequences of that action, but the problem is insurmountable, for only evolution can eventually close that gaping gap (Addendum IV of September 3, 2018, to “The Human Problem,” January 29, 2014). At present, the problem is thus best swept under the proverbial rug. Returning to the felicitous title of this piece, abandoning all hope is to the ultimate benefit of the human species, indeed. In the case of humans, palpable evolutionary changes take millions of years to take shape. And who in this world would be prepared to do anything with such a time gap in mind? To wit, human stupidity is nothing if not a blessing in disguise.