“Life is short, life is shit and soon it will be over!” - a quote from the Kids in the Hall movie Brain Candy which shows how life would kind of suck if you were stuck in a constant state of happiness (er, at the hands of Big Pharma, which tends to fuck stuff up.)
Pity the poor Buddhists and Hindus. Life sucks and then you die. Then you’re reborn, and life sucks all over again.
You have the new batman movie to look forward to. That’s pretty optimistic, in my opinion. 
How dumb are you?
If you’re REALLY dumb, “Everything will be fine”, ought to do the job.
The smarter you are, the more difficult it is to deliver an all-purpose optimism pep talk.
Hmmm, are you obsessive-compulsive? Maybe I can offer you some good news about your obsession and you can forget about everything else. Would that work for you?
Does the technological singularity give you warm fuzzies?
[QUOTE=RickJay]
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There has never been a time before in the history of the world when the average person was as well off as they are today.
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More people, and more people as a percentage of the population, live in safety and stability than ever before. There has never been a time since the rise of agricultural civilization when more people were treated with decency and dignity as is the case this very day.
[/QUOTE]
I’m not convinced that either is true. Today the median average person lives somewhere in the slums of some large city in some third-world country. Until recently the median average person was a subsistence farmer. I believe that the farmer was somewhat better-off than the slum dweller.
[QUOTE=Gatopescado]
We all die sometime.
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…and more than 99% of the time, any day you wake up to beats the alternative. 
[QUOTE=ITR champion]
I’m not convinced that either is true. Today the median average person lives somewhere in the slums of some large city in some third-world country. Until recently the median average person was a subsistence farmer. I believe that the farmer was somewhat better-off than the slum dweller.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, the farmer had it better if you don’t count starving to death. Read some time about how common famines were up until the 18th and 19th centuries. The Irish Potato Famine was bad, but not unprecedented.
No matter how bad global warming is, my kids didn’t have to practice getting under desks and in hallways to be protected when the Russians nuked up like I did. I was old enough to understand the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the end seemed imminent. Nothing today for the country as a whole is as scary as that.
Plus, whoever will be president next January will be far superior to the cretin we got now.
[QUOTE=ITR champion]
I’m not convinced that either is true. Today the median average person lives somewhere in the slums of some large city in some third-world country. Until recently the median average person was a subsistence farmer. I believe that the farmer was somewhat better-off than the slum dweller.
[/QUOTE]
I disagree. I think Rick Jay is making a fair call. I know the average Thai is MUCH better off than just a few decades ago. Even the ones still in squalor generally reap SOME sort of benefit from improved transportation, communications and technological innovation. True for other countries in the region I can think of, too.
My pant size has recently went down from a 38" to a 36" without even trying. This has to be good news, right?
[QUOTE=Phlosphr]
Calm down. The world will always and forever continue to function as one large organism. What happens to one part effects the others. Yes, we will be OK, if you live in a developed nation you will most likely be fine. If you live in Bangladesh, Darfur, Burma, and other 3rd world areas you may be in for some rough times. Concentrate on yourself, and your area of the world. Live honestly, don’t harm your fellow human beings, don’t eat too much bacon, don’t smoke or drink alcohol, pay your student loans, try not to pollute the air and water.
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you have it backwards… lifestyles in 3rd world nations doesn’t have much to change, it’s in developed countries in the middle and poorer classes that it will be felt most. The rest of the advice is spot-on though 
Whee!
[QUOTE=olivesmarch4th]
My husband has often offered me this bit of wisdom:
‘‘If you view human beings as fallen angels, you’re never going to be satisfied with the way the world is. But if you look at human beings in the context of the animal kingdom, you will see how far we have come. That we even debate issues like morality and care for the fate of others is quite a remarkable achievement considering the fact that we’re animals. Not perfect, but constantly improving.’’
.
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Terry Pratchett said something like–Humanity is the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.
[QUOTE=Count Blucher]
…and more than 99% of the time, any day you wake up to beats the alternative.
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My favorite version of this…
“Any day above ground is a good one…”
[QUOTE=unspun]
you have it backwards… lifestyles in 3rd world nations doesn’t have much to change …
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That’s simply not true. The Third World is not all Darfur. They’re not ALL eking out a living in the hardened dirt. There are different levels of development – there are even references these days to the Fourth World. As I mentioned before, there have been vast improvements in the life of the average Thai, and the same can be said for all Southeast Asian nations. (Burma sometimes gets lumped into Southeast Asia, but I consider them South Asia, but even there, despite the junta, you can see some improvements in certain ways.) Believe me, Third World nations have much to dread changewise. Hell, here in Bangkok we’re something like 30 or 50 miles upriver, and they’re STILL saying we could be underwater.
[QUOTE=ianzin]
Can anyone find or offer an optimistic outlook at the moment?
[/quote]
I’ll give it a try (the short version since I have to leave soon.)
- Rising price of oil/economy/“peak oil”
Oil has always been the low-hanging fruit of energy storage - it’s going to become harder to extract sooner or later and the more price encourages conservation and alternatives now, the better. We’re still weathly enough to build lots of mass transit and bicycles and walking will be an excellent way to reduce the obesity epidemic.
- Global warming and CO[sub]2[/sub] emissions
We’re stuck with a certain amount of warming that we aren’t going to be able to stop, true. But one of the side effects of tackling the global warming problem is that lots of less hot air will be permitted to be released on the SDMB - er - international agreements to curb the problem are likely to create mechanisms of nations dealing with each other that emphasize close cooperation and compromise, which could make future diplomacy much more intense and collaborative and prevent those Hapsburg swine from marching across Europe again!
- Terrorism
Not as big a threat as it’s cooked up to be. I think the chance of the average American being killed by a terrorist attack is extremely small. Outside of Iraq, terrorist attacks have been low recently compared to the early 2000s and the 1990s. I just can’t seem to get too worked up about that one. (Yes, we really should count Iraq too, but for those of us outside Iraq this could be somewhat comforting.)
- AIDS
There are some terrible things happening to people affected by the AIDS epidemic, but each individual faces a better situation than an individual affected in the 1980s. People with AIDS can survive for decades now, and we will hopefully make progress against the disease in the future even if a vaccine isn’t likely in the near future, we can cut down on its spread and address failures of sex education in many parts of the world.
Even if the world were to come crashing down about my ears, I could not help but think it would be very interesting at least.
I just went outside and the sun was shining,young ladies were wearing precious little, and the birds were singing. Everything’s gonna be just fine, just as soon as I get a desk fan!
[QUOTE=ianzin]
seemingly intractable fundamentalist campaigns of violence
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Fundamentalist Buddhists? Fundamentalist Baha’i?
If your major sources of information are the BBC and the Guardian, look elsewhere.
[QUOTE=rowrrbazzle]
Fundamentalist Buddhists?
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Don’t scoff. I’ve actually encountered some, rare though they may be.