3 ms·

The environmentalists have been saying for decades that we are destroying ourselves. Yet as a whole, this is the best time in history for humanity. We live long

The environmentalists have been saying for decades that we are destroying ourselves. Yet as a whole, this is the best time in history for humanity. We live longer healthier lives. Fewer people as a percentage live in poverty than ever before. Climate change is real, and the effects are real. However, it is in the billions of people coming out of poverty and into a “modern” lifestyle that we find hope. We will have billions of people who will now have the time and opportunity to fully develop their potential. The wonders of the scientific revolution of the 15th-20th centuries was with humanities hands tied behind our back as it was only limited to the elite western white male. Now we are opening up opportunities to all genders, races, ethnicities, and countries. The scientific advances and technological breakthroughs of the 21st and 22nd centuries will be amazing. Humanities politics may be bad, but our creativity is amazing and will be our salvation.

newnewpdro 8y ago
How optimistic of you. The harsher reality of the billions of people coming out of poverty is that many more people will be increasing their climate impact. Optimism tends to be synonymous with ignorance.
- hackeraccount 8y ago
  They'll be increasing their impact in a lot of ways.
tcmb 8y ago
No offense, but in light of the conclusions TFA describes, this sounds like a heroin addict just after getting a shot. Right now, everything is glorious, and the future looks bright, as long as I can just ignore the problems that exist when I look at the world sober.
Theodores 8y ago
Not really. Modern capitalism is a serfdom of sorts, 99% working off 25 year mortgages with the proceeds going to the 1%. Soon it will be 25 years of hard work to get the deposit to get started on the 25 year mortgage, which is not the same thing as 'fully developing one's potential'. A century ago everything was organic. There were no plastics to buy on a daily basis, there was no glyphosate in food. There might have been tincture of arsenic and other nasties, food might have not been affordable and so on, but progress for the better does not mean that everything is better. What point is there if things are better but everything is polluted? I do not believe that community has got better over the last century, before the television made its appearance in every front room people did go out for their entertainment a lot more. Village halls, church buildings and public houses used to be where people would go to participate in things. The world was not a spectacle to be watched. Today it mostly is. We also live in an age where the motorcar and planes are omnipresent. Kids used to play in the street, now they have Snapchat. One day of playing in the street - even if bullied - is worth an eternity of Snapchat, even if not 'cyber-bullied'. Cars also have a way of killing all forms of life, not just people's pets but every life form that is not well versed in the Green Cross Code. The billion or so car drivers think it is their divine right to right of way, that climate change does not concern them and that bicycles are for kids. As for the wonders of scientific advances and breakthroughs, the ancients in Greece, Persia and elsewhere worked out all the difficult maths. But 99% of people get lost at the mention of cosine and would not be able to solve a simultaneous equation even if their life depended on it. Even this longer, healthier lifespan you speak of is questionable. Who doesn't have elderly relatives that have been on some kind of life support for decades? Fed through a straw, needing a bed hoist, this might be better than dead, but if the Alzheimer's has set in does it even matter? This extended life also ties up the potential of younger generations, care workers who pop by three times a day do not come for free, they too have potential and, whilst they are doing the bed hoist thing, they are not writing the next War And Peace or spending time with their own family. I am playing devil's advocate here, however, we live in an era of Trump and maximal human stupidity. The baby boomer generation had a better gig in the last century.
- chaosbutters314 8y ago
  Oh god, I'm not the only one realizing your statement on 25-30 years for the mortgage, on top of the 25-30 years already spent to pay for the down payment. It is either save for retirement or save for a house.
yongjik 8y ago
I mean, it's great that humanity is enjoying increasingly high standard of living, but that's at best non sequitur. Nobody's asking humanity to go back to pre-industrial times, at least nobody who's worth listening to. Our "amazing creativity" might help us in the future, but there are much simpler and more effective things to do, right now, such as STOP BURNING COAL. What we really need now is more like political willpower.
everdrive 8y ago
There really shouldn't be billions of people.
singularity2001 8y ago
I would have upvoted if it wasn't for your stupid word 'environmentalists' (as if caring for the environment is bad)

newnewpdro 8y ago

How optimistic of you. The harsher reality of the billions of people coming out of poverty is that many more people will be increasing their climate impact. Optimism tends to be synonymous with ignorance.

hackeraccount 8y ago
They'll be increasing their impact in a lot of ways.

tcmb 8y ago

No offense, but in light of the conclusions TFA describes, this sounds like a heroin addict just after getting a shot. Right now, everything is glorious, and the future looks bright, as long as I can just ignore the problems that exist when I look at the world sober.

Theodores 8y ago

Not really. Modern capitalism is a serfdom of sorts, 99% working off 25 year mortgages with the proceeds going to the 1%. Soon it will be 25 years of hard work to get the deposit to get started on the 25 year mortgage, which is not the same thing as 'fully developing one's potential'. A century ago everything was organic. There were no plastics to buy on a daily basis, there was no glyphosate in food. There might have been tincture of arsenic and other nasties, food might have not been affordable and so on, but progress for the better does not mean that everything is better. What point is there if things are better but everything is polluted? I do not believe that community has got better over the last century, before the television made its appearance in every front room people did go out for their entertainment a lot more. Village halls, church buildings and public houses used to be where people would go to participate in things. The world was not a spectacle to be watched. Today it mostly is. We also live in an age where the motorcar and planes are omnipresent. Kids used to play in the street, now they have Snapchat. One day of playing in the street - even if bullied - is worth an eternity of Snapchat, even if not 'cyber-bullied'. Cars also have a way of killing all forms of life, not just people's pets but every life form that is not well versed in the Green Cross Code. The billion or so car drivers think it is their divine right to right of way, that climate change does not concern them and that bicycles are for kids. As for the wonders of scientific advances and breakthroughs, the ancients in Greece, Persia and elsewhere worked out all the difficult maths. But 99% of people get lost at the mention of cosine and would not be able to solve a simultaneous equation even if their life depended on it. Even this longer, healthier lifespan you speak of is questionable. Who doesn't have elderly relatives that have been on some kind of life support for decades? Fed through a straw, needing a bed hoist, this might be better than dead, but if the Alzheimer's has set in does it even matter? This extended life also ties up the potential of younger generations, care workers who pop by three times a day do not come for free, they too have potential and, whilst they are doing the bed hoist thing, they are not writing the next War And Peace or spending time with their own family. I am playing devil's advocate here, however, we live in an era of Trump and maximal human stupidity. The baby boomer generation had a better gig in the last century.

chaosbutters314 8y ago
Oh god, I'm not the only one realizing your statement on 25-30 years for the mortgage, on top of the 25-30 years already spent to pay for the down payment. It is either save for retirement or save for a house.

yongjik 8y ago

I mean, it's great that humanity is enjoying increasingly high standard of living, but that's at best non sequitur. Nobody's asking humanity to go back to pre-industrial times, at least nobody who's worth listening to. Our "amazing creativity" might help us in the future, but there are much simpler and more effective things to do, right now, such as STOP BURNING COAL. What we really need now is more like political willpower.

everdrive 8y ago

There really shouldn't be billions of people.

singularity2001 8y ago

I would have upvoted if it wasn't for your stupid word 'environmentalists' (as if caring for the environment is bad)