Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all?

[Picklepower]

Just that, America is full of unrest, shit is still going on within the Middle East etc. the government spies on us to "keep us safe", and everyday in my class someone brings up how bad everyone's financial shit is. Is there any reason, at all, for anyone to be optimistic, about the future of the world? or are we all just screwed?

 

[cypocryphy]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

The worlds always been fuckin' crazy. Would you rather have fought in World War I, or died of the bubonic plague, or shit yourself during the Cuban missile crisis? I think things will be fine.

 

[teheviltwin]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

We're overdue for an influenza pandemic. If it's a highly pathogenic one it could kill off a billion or two. This will mean a sudden abundance of housing, jerbs and resources for a few generations. So you never know what the world will be like in a few years.

 

[Picklepower]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

I actually have been reading about the plague alot lately, and that makes me think, "Well at least we aren't there anymore." I just worry for the kids, who knows what the future will hold for them, I am not worried about my own safety or anything though. But in a lot of ways also, things are better off now then in the past, so I shouldn't feel too negative.

 

[The Hunter]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

As an American, I don't give a shit about politics anymore. All I care about is what's happening around me and how I can make it a better experience. "Ugh, but the world is so shitty and awful people live in America!" Yeah? Well that's their problem and they're probably like that because they're pessimists themselves.

 

[Mourning Dove]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

I think every country has its own problems and benefits. It depends on perspective. For instance, even though the United States is supposedly the country of great opportunity and equality, it still has a horrible clinical depression/unhappiness rate among its citizens!

 

[Surtur]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

People are getting smarter, quality of life is going up, people are treating the environment better, people are living longer. Not sure whats wrong here.

 

[Mourning Dove]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

Also, I think the media (at least in the United States) just likes to focus on the tragedies and problems in the world. This makes news viewers more unhappy/pessimistic in turn.

 

[Picklepower]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

Also, I think the media (at least in the United States) just likes to focus on the tragedies and problems in the world. This makes news viewers more unhappy/pessimistic in turn.

Yeah that's right. That's what sells apparently.

 

[Pikonic]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

Also, I think the media (at least in the United States) just likes to focus on the tragedies and problems in the world. This makes news viewers more unhappy/pessimistic in turn.

It only seems worse because we learn about every bad thing, I think we're better off than say 100 years ago.

 

[QI 541]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

The world's always been shit. It's actually gotten much better over time, even if we're only one nuclear war away from wiping ourselves out.

 

[teheviltwin]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

I actually have been reading about the plague alot lately, and that makes me think, "Well at least we aren't there anymore." I just worry for the kids, who knows what the future will hold for them, I am not worried about my own safety or anything though. But in a lot of ways also, things are better off now then in the past, so I shouldn't feel too negative.

I always find it interesting that people cite the bubonic plague rather than the Spanish Influenza. I suppose the Black Death is a cooler name but the 1918 H1N1 bird flu virus infected 500 million people and killed somewhere between 50 and 100 million whereas the plague killed 25 million. In WW1, at one point, it was more likely for an American soldier to die before he even reached the trenches because so many were taken out by that virus.

 

[Some JERK]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

If you make it to 30 without being brutally murdered, sold into slavery, or dying horribly from a nasty infection, then you've already lived a far better life than 99% of the humans that pre-dated you.

There was a scene in a zombie movie or something where this chick is going off about how maybe her kids would be better off dead since the world was now constant danger and struggle. It really pissed me off because i know some people would actually think that way. For the longest time that's exactly what life WAS: constant danger and struggle. Broken legs and deep cuts were death sentences, people got dragged off by roving groups of animals (or other people) and nobody ever saw them again. Your teeth were a ticking time bomb that were probably just going to rot out of your head, get infected, and then kill you.

I'd say that despite all the bad shit going on today, we live in a far better world than we used to.

 

[Niachu]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

It's human nature to focus on the negative, and if you can worry about that it means your basic needs (food, water, shelter, safety) have been met. That's not a bad thing. I despaired like that myself for awhile, so that's why I'm becoming more and more active to be a force for good.

 

[Some JERK]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

Not to mention that if you ate today, yesterday and the day before, you've pulled off a hat trick that even a lot of people alive today would be envious of.

 

[c-no]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

Also, I think the media (at least in the United States) just likes to focus on the tragedies and problems in the world. This makes news viewers more unhappy/pessimistic in turn.

Yeah that's right. That's what sells apparently.

As some might say "If it bleeds, it leads." Honestly, I wonder if there is any news within U.S. media that focuses on the positives within the world.

 

[Hollywood Hulk Hogan]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

Ya know something, brother? There is plenty of reason to be optimistic in humanity. As long as there are people are fighting for what they believe it, as long as there are people are fighting for the rights of every man, as long as there are people who will take a stand when it all comes crashing down, then you gotta be optimistic. There's plenty of Hulkamaniacs out there ready for a new world. Ready for a change in the world for the better. As these people have children and raise their own little Hulksters, the evil in this world will not succeed. For every evil person that is out there, there is a person training, saying their prayers and eating their vitamins, ready to step up and stop them.
And ya know something else, brother? Those evil people are just cowards, man. They've never had to face good man to man before. And don't even think that evil will defeat the Hulkamaniacs, man. Hulkamaniacs are survivors. They are ready. They are prepared to take them down. And just like when the Hulkster faced Andre the Giant, managed by Bobby the Weasel Heenan, I must ask you, evil men out there, WHATCHA GONNA DO, BROTHER, WHEN ALL THE HULKAMANIACS OF THE WORLD, DESTROY YOU?!?!!

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

My guiding principle in life is that there is no such thing as perfection. I'm not being pessimistic with this, quite the opposite actually. Because nothing is perfect, that means there is always room for improvement. With that improvement, we advance as a society and live better lives. We learn, we grow, we survive. And that is what I think should be celebrated.

(Now if only I could explain this to Chris).

I'm just going to give you one of my favorite examples of this, the first World War. When it broke out, people looked forward to it and thought they would be home for Christmas. That war, with all it's atrocities, removed a lot of the romanticism from war and moved people more towards seeking peaceful resolution. Humanity became better because of it.

 

[bradsternum]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

I don't believe that people are inherently good, but I do believe everyone has the potential to be good. I just try to be positive, and kind to most people. Except Jews. Obviously.

 

[Zim]

Re: Is there any reason for humanity to be optimistic at all

Life in general is not so bad. In fact for most of us, who don't live in 3rd world crap piles, we have it pretty good. People just like to think everything's going to hit the fan while they're alive because they want to think they're special. In their minds, the end of life as we know it will, without a doubt, happen during their life time. They want to get that "I Survied ____" t-shirt that makes them stand out from the next generation who didn't have to suffer like they did. They want things to go south so they can justify themselves.