Being Optimistic About the Future of Humanity
Yes, I know, that's not an easy thing to be when we're constantly being bombarded by scare stories about how, for example, AI will eventually not just make us all unemployed, but kill us off as well because it won't find any use for us (complete rubbish in my view), but if one ignores the stories that are clearly meant to enrage or mislead us, then quite a lot can be said for being hopeful.
For example, during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, it was widely believed that we would keep reproducing without apparent limit, like rabbits, and that because of this the world would see massive starvation, unchecked diseases, environmental destruction, and societal collapse.
Well, it just so happens that all of these forecasts turned out to be not only wrong, but hopelessly wrong, on a monumental scale. In fact, now people (i.e. demographers, statisticians, governments) are worrying about the fact that young people are opting out of having children, which just goes to show you that people will always find a reason to be pessimistic.
However, I see this trend as being beneficial, because with fewer people on Earth, there will be less demand for the limited resources that our planet can provide for us, which will in turn translate into less stress upon the environment (ex. not as much pollution, less demand for resource extraction, a lower risk of biodiversity degradation), and if those forecasts about AI making most of us unemployed and unemployable are anything to go by, well... that won't matter as much, because there will be fewer of us around anyway, and besides, who really wants to work in a coal mine, or on a battlefield clearing mines?
People are living longer on average, people are now far more aware of all of the problems that actually plague this planet, and with awareness comes a desire for change, for improvement. We've survived catastrophes before, lots of times, and yet we've always managed to hang on, to avoid extinction.
Let me put it this way. Would you really give up living in the year AD 2026 for a return to, for example, 1826? Or 1939? Or 1960? I know I wouldn't.
For example, during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, it was widely believed that we would keep reproducing without apparent limit, like rabbits, and that because of this the world would see massive starvation, unchecked diseases, environmental destruction, and societal collapse.
Well, it just so happens that all of these forecasts turned out to be not only wrong, but hopelessly wrong, on a monumental scale. In fact, now people (i.e. demographers, statisticians, governments) are worrying about the fact that young people are opting out of having children, which just goes to show you that people will always find a reason to be pessimistic.
However, I see this trend as being beneficial, because with fewer people on Earth, there will be less demand for the limited resources that our planet can provide for us, which will in turn translate into less stress upon the environment (ex. not as much pollution, less demand for resource extraction, a lower risk of biodiversity degradation), and if those forecasts about AI making most of us unemployed and unemployable are anything to go by, well... that won't matter as much, because there will be fewer of us around anyway, and besides, who really wants to work in a coal mine, or on a battlefield clearing mines?
People are living longer on average, people are now far more aware of all of the problems that actually plague this planet, and with awareness comes a desire for change, for improvement. We've survived catastrophes before, lots of times, and yet we've always managed to hang on, to avoid extinction.
Let me put it this way. Would you really give up living in the year AD 2026 for a return to, for example, 1826? Or 1939? Or 1960? I know I wouldn't.
