Look closely at me. I am a skeleton. My kind has perished from the earth. You humans now inhabit my old home and, by and large, I like what you've done with it. You have learned to extend your lifespans and live healthier lives, created more leisure options than my world had plants, walked on other planets, and used the rocks in the ground to build powerful machines to harness information and create knowledge. Your scientific knowledge and cumulative intelligence is astounding, but your wisdom, I fear, is questionable.

It was one of your kind who said, "Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it." OUR extinction was beyond our control to prevent. Your collective mortality is hurried along by your disregard for the planet and it's ability to support human life. Continue thus, and you and I shall have an eternity to consult on how to persuade the next species to not make the same mistake.

In an attempt at stimulating foresight, I ask you this: If your kind were to become extinct and you had an opportunity to share some words of wisdom with the next major earth species to come along, what would YOU say?