> i can't imagine surviving something like a famine or civil war in the modern world. and it doesn't look like that kind of risk is growing smaller. I don't th

> i can't imagine surviving something like a famine or civil war in the modern world. and it doesn't look like that kind of risk is growing smaller. I don't think anybody studying the history of civil wars or famine believe that that is likely to happen. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/civil-war-united-states-unlikely-violence/2020/10/29/3a143936-0f0f-11eb-8074-0e943a91bf08_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/civil-war-united-stat... Besides, even if you talk to people who lived through wars or famines, few of them wish they hadn't been born. People find happiness and meaning everywhere. From interviews I have read, people living through wars find their lives more meaningful rather than less. > could you stand to live in a total police state, even if you're safe (from the outside) and relatively wealthy (compared to a refugee)? Probably. But I don't think anything like that is likely. I think there will be fewer police states in the future. It's odd how people living in poorer and less well-managed countries are much more optimistic about the future than people living in the West. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/ng-interactive/2018/sep/24/our-time-is-now-world-youth-poll-reveals-unexpected-optimism https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/ng-interactiv... I wonder if it's just spending too much time on social media and too little time reading history books that make people so pessimistic...