OPINION John C. Havens n the midst of dealing with COVID-19, the question of what defines success for humanity looks very different than it did just a few months ago. Although suffering and need existed before the pandemic, 2020 has a majority of the planet asking the simple question: "What do we need to do in order to stay alive?" I Will We Make Our Numbers? While this is a stark way to frame this question, it's not hyperbolic. Physical distancing and lockdown measures instituted by various governments around the world have been shown to potentially drastically HTTPS://STANDARDS.IEEE.ORG/CONTENT/IEEE-STANDARDS/EN/INDUSTRY-CONNECTIONS/EC/AUTONOMOUS-SYSTEMS.HTML. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2020.2991497 Date of current version: 18 June 2020 The Five Words Shaping Humanity's Ultimate Sustainability 32 IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE ∕ JUNE 2020HTTPS://STANDARDS.IEEE.ORG/CONTENT/IEEE-STANDARDS/EN/INDUSTRY-CONNECTIONS/EC/AUTONOMOUS-SYSTEMS.HTML