"all throughout history, the future has turned out to be better" splutter Just...no. 1913? 1928? 14th-century Europe before the Black Death turned up? Rome at

"all throughout history, the future has turned out to be better" splutter Just...no. 1913? 1928? 14th-century Europe before the Black Death turned up? Rome at its height? Yes, things are pretty damn good right now (in Europe and North America, at least). But history isn't a stately progress of life getting better - there have been plenty of times when things have fallen apart. As for expectations: there are always some waiting for the end-times with barely-concealed glee. But equally there are usually some expecting continuity, or gradual progress, or imagining cycles of historical recurrance.