Technology can definitely solve a lot of problems. I think the trouble with cars is that technology has been used to increase horsepower and vehicle size rather than efficiency. There’s no reason cars can’t be built for efficiency again.
And with the Internet, anyone anywhere that can get Internet can plug into the largest store of knowledge ever known to man. From the important to the mundane, it’s all there. The Internet and media can give all issues, important and not, a platform. It’s a great non-realtime way to stay in touch with friends, family, and Internet friends.
Yeah I don’t see too much to worry about. Everyone is basically in the same boat, communication is good, we’ll solve the problems.
Here’s a few random responses, in no particular order.
The number of people being killed in wars has been steeadily declining.
The percentage of people living in democracies has been steadily increasing.
Global warming is being accepted as a myth; that’s why they call it climate change now.
Life expectancy keeps increasing.
The amount of wilderness land keeps increasing.
The inflation rate and unemployment rate are low and have been low for a long time. The recesson we’re supposed to be having is turning out not to be a recession at all.
The vast majority of journalists are liberals. They have a vested interest in making things look bad so everyone will hate Bush. Take everything they say with a grain of salt.
Read this article from The New York Times this week:
I find it’s easier to stay optimistic when you put the world today in perspective. Yes, AIDS is expanding, but it is also avoidable. If you are careful to protect yourself, then you can rest assured you will be fine. However, when the bubonic plague came about people couldn’t really “protect themselves”. We can be glad it’s not that and that we have technology today that is making life with AIDS manageable and avoidance possible.
Yes, the rise in oil prices is upsetting, but there are many alternatives out there. Each of those alternatives (arguably) are very eco-friendly. So what if we lose our dependence on oil? Maybe that’s a good thing.
Each day you spend worrying is a day you enjoy less. So stop the worrying!
I don’t know the OP’s situation, but whenever I start worrying about the world, I’ll take a moment to reflect that my own life is better than ever. I’ve risen steadily from plateau to plateau even at times when all around me seemed to be crumbling. Maybe I’m due for a fall, dunno, but you have to look out for No 1 first and foremost. You can’t change the world, but you can affect your immediate environment.
Growing population, finite resources: When raw materials become scarce, someone will figure out how to make a buck with recycled materials. It may not be as pretty as the stuff you are used to, but it will get the job done.
Food shortage: In the last half-century, nearly all famines have been man-made. The food is there; it’s just a matter of getting the tyrants and gangsters out of the distribution system.
AIDS: Granted, far too many people are already infected. But, stay off of the drugs, and keep your fly zipped, and you have pretty good odds of avoiding it.
Climate change: We will adapt, or we will die. If we die, many third-world countries suddenly have new opportunities.
I have a number of perspectives that keep me going:
Similar to what drpepper wrote, if you think our times are depressing, try reading George Orwell’s pre war novels and other writings. While he is most famous for his post war fantasies, he was writing realistically in the 1930s and it makes you glad you didn’t have to make the moral decisions that were faced by people at that time.
We don’t know how our current worries will play out, but no-one can prove that in 300 years time there will not be millions of people in every country living happy, fulfilling, non-exploitative lives.
Or, if you can’t get past your worries about the environment, think about plate tectonics. Think about predictions of future alignments of the continents; there might be an exciting new super continent, there might be a huge range of mountains formed where Australia meets Antarctica. How great is that? It’ll be in hundreds of millions of years, humans won’t be around to witness it, but it will happen no matter what we do to spoil the earth. There is nothing we can do to stop it.
Finally, while this will not be a comfort to everyone (and if you object please start another thread rather than hi-jacking this one), but I like to think “Don’t worry, capitalism will fall.”
No. I cannot. I am dissapointed, sad, and a little angry. I need some time to get over my hurt.
Yeah, I know, save the wood Mel Gibson may need it, yada yada. I do not apologize for my support of Hillary and I do not regret it. I still believe she is the best (wo)man for the job. I will be in mourning for some time, as I think the country will suffer.
Can Obama win? I realy don’t think so. I will, as Mama McCain said, hold my nose and vote for him, but I don’t have good will towards the man. He is not presidential material at this moment, IMHO. I suppose we shall see.
I tend to be guardedly optimistic. I think through adjustments in lifestyle and the reevaluation of what is needed to function culturally and economically will enable us to live happily in a world of energy scarcity. I also think the rising cost of conventional energy will be the goad that drives technological advancement. I don’t think there will be a single “magic pill”, that will transform everything the way cheap oil has done. Instead, small innovations will foster local energy independence; advances in photovoltaic technology already make it possible to run small appliances with a solar panel. Within reason, it is possible to run a houseful of appliances on solar power; I know of at least one example of someone building a forest cabin where they did this; and they are able to run a TV, refrigerator, computer, and lights. There was no mention of a washer and drier, and that might not be possible now. But there are clearly renewable energy alternatives that are viable.
Along with improving mass transit and encouraging its use, we also need to look at the need for commuting in the first place. I was actually surprised to learn, only yesterday that many IT executives actual advocate increased telecommuting(cite below), contrary to what may of their grumbling staffers may believe. In other words, we should be looking not only on how to get people to the office, but also on who really needs to be there and how often, when they can work just as well from home. Telecommuting depends on electric power, which affords us much greater flexibility in how we can generate it; in contrast to the petroleum on which the vast majority of physical commuting depends. The increased use of telecommuting will introduce a degree of elasticity into the demand for gasoline, which to this point has been mostly absent due to the invariant need to commute.
The danger we face now is that, by human nature, groups of people move, think, and act slowly than individuals. Consider an analogy: Suppose you are in a busy public place, let’s say, UCLA during a change of classes. Students are hurrying to and fro in all directions. The walkways and plazas are crowded. Suppose you’re in a hurry, and there is a knot of six or seven people walking ahead of you. Almost invariably, you will hurry around them, because they will be moving much more slowly than you wish to. The walking speed of a group of people is basically a function of the preferred pace of its slowest members, allowing for additional factors such as forces within the group. I fear that this may also be the case with larger communities. Our ability to think and act seems to decline as a function of the size of the group under observation . In my most pessimistic moods I think cities-full of people are slow witted, national populations are moderately impaired, and, as a world population we may be profoundly mentally handicapped and suicidally insane.
(Hot off the paper I should be working on right now:
Blaize Horner Reich and Kay M. Nelson… “In Their Own Words: CIO Visions About The Future Of In House IT Organizations The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems. Fall 2003 (Vol. 34, No. 4) )
