Sometimes it feels like 1 step forward..2 steps back..but yes..we are survivors at the end of the day..but I think we need to keep an eye on going in the right direction..

Great optimistic answer...I have faith that the kids will turn this around...if there is time..

@Hitchens I raised my Son and Daughters to be adaptable to whatever tasks that they may encounter. Not with the attitude of Survivalists, but of people that will change the world for Humanity. They would be well able to be "survivalists" too , mind you.

@bubaj50 I have 2 girls...I agree..you need to teach them right from wrong..to know that it's up to them to change the crap they see on the news..it upsets them how things are going ..even at their age.
I try to teach them the importance of thinking for themselves..and also critical analysis..asking questions..and when your done..ask some more questions...
I would love to teach them some survivalist skills but the truth is apart from common sense tips that I picked up from books and TV..I really don't know shit from shinola..

Anyway some of those survivalist..take it to far..IMO...some of em are genuine fruitcakes..still I admire their skills..but am saddened that they really believe Armageddon is always a week away..maybe I'm wrong..who knows?

@Hitchens I have an advantage in that I grew up on a farm...and I am a sailer...I know that “ plan A” is only theoretical!

@bubaj50

Well you definately would have the jump on me..?

But there should always be a Plan B if the shit hits the fan.

Let's just hope it never comes to that..now we need little scientists etc ?

Yep..greed and a huge lack of empathy...

Hopefully the kids of today...have already woken up to that coffee...

I was born in '71 ..I have noticed a year on year trend of the following cycle:

A surge in capitalism..followed closely by a surge in marketing..followed by a surge in consumerism..followed by a surge in manufacture..followed by a surge in pollution and waste...

All for "Stuff" that the marketing people convinced us we needed...and the cycle continues exponentially...for more crap that we don't need..we just want or covet it...

And true those with the ability to adapt or with the will to survive..are always the best placed to survive..correct by any standard.

Cheers.

We are not allowed to call it human race anymore.. it's human species apparently...I've been reprimanded twice already on this Post..so tread lightly ??

But since we are all buggered and dooooomed..feel free to call it what you like..I'm sure the cockroaches and rats inheriting the world will be more than happy to take over the Rat Race..?

Thanks have the most pleasant afternoon ever.

@Hitchens. Uhhhhhhh! Bloody semantics. Well, race, species, whatever it's all fucked anyway so sounds like someone with too much time on their hands and nothing important in their life to address!?

@Geoffrey51

No it ok..they are good people..it would be different if it came from Trolls..but they are fine well intentioned guys ..words carry weight..and what seems like a trivial faux pad to me..is an important distinction to another..that should be respected..unless it's done out of malice..I agree some times the message is more important than arguing over the semantics. Cheers Geoffrey. ?

@Geoffrey51 you will be part of the Problem,Not the Solution!!

@bubaj50 That is probably true. Love cliches though

We may not even make it through to next weekend...nobody knows...

But I only know that it's better to be alive than dead...?

@RobLawrence Even their time will come, though likely after ours.

I wonder will they ever sort out the issues with Cryogenics...then maybe we could press the pause button..and take a look at the brave new world of the future?

@Hitchens It's an interesting thought

@Hitchens then we would have to live with the same idiots that got us here in the first place ☹. ... And the future would likely be created on Huxley's distopian Brave Nee World.

@Geoffrey51 Fair point!..I didn't think of it from that perspective...maybe one tour on this little blue dot should be enough anyway..?

@Hitchens don't plan on another planet or Science to solve this.we will and must!

@bubaj50

Yea but we need Governments to get their collective fingers out of their asses..and agree a common approach..A.K.A Paris Accord.. a lame duck without the U.S on board..its not much..but at least it was a start..climate deniers are just as bad as flat Earthers..at least those lunatics are only a danger to themselves. IMO.

Yea you nailed it..we are voracious consumers..we are insatiable..There is this stupid way of thinking..don't worry about the rain forests, the wildlife , Marine life, ice caps etc disappearing..

Because you will be dead..

Don't worry about climate change or pollution etc

Because you will be dead..

Who cares about the humans coming after us?

I'm starting to think that people may deserve what's coming down the line.

Same with Trump..they voted for him..they deserve him.

I hear you..Im not sure if the enlightened people of America are ready for another administration from Hell.
If Pence gets in...I will permanently lose my faith in common good and reason...it is already teetering.
I have seen that crazy look in Prince's eyes..I am sincerely convinced that he is not right in the head as they say...Trump is not in the least religious..he just panders to them..but Pence is something different..he is a true believer..he believes he is the hand of God.. put here to make things right by God.

Who knows what this fruitcake might try. Better the devil you know..than the hand of God.

He scares me..really.

@Hitchens exactly! Trump is awful and is a buffoon, but Pence is truly evil. The Democratic Party is not being progressive enough and they keep fighting moving to the left. So long as they continue fighting the shift, the republicans will win. They won’t get people motivated to vote. People are tired of voting for the lesser evil.

@Butterflywndr

So odd that Democrats are clueless on a strategy to wipe the floor with them.

So ironic that one of the few things that Republicans know how to do..is get their votes out
Taking full advantage of the outrageous gerrymandering stateside.

@RobLawrence

I would blame you for joining the space force team...just to get off the damn planet!!

You are quite correct..in many ways..the question is about the past..the present..and the outlook for the near future..if nothing else we are all realists here..I know that all life will definitively be destroyed by either our own hand I.e nuclear holocaust..climate change..a virus/resistant bacteria..asteroid collision..and you're right much of this is beyond our control...

Life consciousness and time are indeed like a transitory dream..but I would like us to effect enough change to allow my children and their children to live that dream..not the nightmare.

Thank you William.?

Yes will they have the power or will they elect people who care enough and have the political will to get other leaders to proactively and effectively collaborate across the world stage..to effect the real and urgent changes to problems facing mankind..not just local votes..or pandering to lobbyists who are very much part of the problem.

@Hitchens Well, that's a relief!

Thanks just watched it..
It's what he left out that is worrying..sure he crunched the comparative numbers..but admitted fleetingly that climate change is a gargantuan problem..that can be solved by applying solutions...what fucking solutions..the Paris Accord is in the toilet..thanks to 45. What about the rise of religious funementalism and national socialism?

As for destroying the rain forests..and wiping out wildlife that are regularly becoming extinct..plastics pollution..not even addressed etc etc

His numbers hide a number of elephants in the room.

Excellent cheers.

Optimist..excellent.

Yes I think this was a very nasty blip...one that will pass.
Although a lot of damage has been done to America's credibility and standing abroad...there will be a lot of work to do to undo the damage..Trump's warped Administration's reckless endeavour to make a great country great..has only diminished it. It was and is causing voter apathy and malaise..the very thing that ironically got him in..in the first place.IMO.

@Hitchens I am not a DJT supporter. I believe, however, that had Trump been the Democratic Party candidate and won the presidency, his populist approach to governance would have resulted in a much more humanitarian outcome. As a Democratic president, he would have been much better than as a Republican or as H.Clinton.

@PBuck0145

Even if he did run as a Democrat..and had won..he may have pandered to his core democratic vote..yes..probably..for a while..so maybe some issues dear to democrats might have been addressed..

But..the problem I have with that hypothesis is that he has such ingrained bias and prejudice wired in to his physche..that he would (in my honest opinion) have slowly reverted back to his own sick agenda of nonsense..but who knows right?

@Hitchens Perhaps you are correct. I base my beliefs on the fact that most of his campaign promises which were discarded when elected, but might have been implemented with the support of a Democratic congress.

@PBuck0145

You are probably right..he might well have too..but it's his personal character that is the issue..his now legendary economy with basic truth..and his inability to take advice..his lack of empathy..and diplomacy..would lead me to the conclusion that this experiment would have failed anyway. IMO.

Hi..its a big concern for us too...won't you stay a little longer? Trump is egging May on..yet won't offer here concrete support..America first...
I think May is in real trouble..and the U.K may be in for a shock..if this Brexit bad boy.. goes off the cliff..we are all in for a major winter of discontent..☹?

No it doesn't look pretty now..but we have to hope..remember that line "Hope is a fine thing..maybe the finest..and the world is a fine place, and worth fighting for".

Yes Marine..its all a bit grim isn't it?
Still we have to look beyond our present political quagmire and turmoil..and hope with some optimism that the next generation turn the tide on this brutally devisive and sick world.

Hi there,

Pessimism seems to have taken it's toll on you. There is a profound sadress in your words..though you say you are fine..
I am a little saddened that your daughter has decided of her own accord to avoid having children...I hope she may sometime in the future..perhaps reconsider..or at least revisit this decision.
I only say this because I was of a similar mind when I was thinking about it for the first time..but I was won over and in some ways reluctantly went along with it.. despite my previous mindset and my current concerns of the direction our world is being steered..I can assure you I made the right decision..having two beautiful and clever girls to spoil...these little munchkins tell me they are gonna change the world..and who knows..who am I to tell them otherwise..? Thank you for your heartfelt response Alanalorie.?

Yes I think the crucial thing is to get through the next couple of hundred years..Hawking said that too.
It's refreshing that you are calmly optimistic. Does seem so far away..I shall have to remember to keep flossing.. wouldn't want to loose any teeth before paradise arrives..

Thank you.

Sorry Evident..the vocabulary constabulary already beat you to that one ..in the form of the aptly named Wordywalt..you may be a Polymath..but he was quicker on the draw ?.
Either way I stand corrected...its species, my apologies to you..and the Human species, which I hope are in no way diminished by my faux pas.

I do seem to remember Hawking commenting that the next surviving the next couple of centuries would be crucial ..and also leaving the planet at some point ..to establish stepping stone colonies to escape a dying world.

So all things being equal and we haven't succumbed to War..natural catastrophes..virul/bacterial holocaust..asteroid collision ..and avoiding reliance on Artificial Intelligence (They could destroy us too)..I sense there is at least some reason to be partially optimistic..

Thanks Evidentialist.

@Hitchens -- Agreed. We need to get our eggs out of this one basket. It isn't a matter of if we get hit by a killer because that is guaranteed. The problem is timing. Although we have several programs to find and catalog any rocks or lumps of nickel-iron with our name on them, we are frequently blindsided.

I am optimistic about our odds, but we are working against a clock that is unseen and can't be changed to suit our needs.

@evidentialist

IKN..It might be that we could harness the energy of one of these deadly leviathans to catapult us out of our solar system..perhaps hitching a ride through the galaxy..at least some of the way to goldilocks land?

Maybe as is sometimes suggested those rocks hurtling through space may have carried the stuff of life..to us in the first place water etc may well either kill us..or provide a way out..who knows?

But yes it's as you say a race against time..and fortune..maybe our friend in the Oval office might do better investing money in think tanks..and useful research..instead of a "Space Force".

Ok you are not in the business of sugar-coating things. Fair enough.. I suppose you would not be in the optimist group..more ultra realist pessimist way of thinking.☺

@Hitchens
In my opinion, it's not an optimistic or pessimistic thought experiment. We are simply parasites. No special standing or privilege because we can talk.
The amount of natural resources required to keep us alive to do what we are doing right now isn't worth the damages to the planet we are causing.

@Anonbene

If we looked after the planet..and controlled our population and baser instincts..we might be worthy of such a beautiful planet.

@Hitchens
Control the population sends up red flags but what if we offered vasectomies and sperm freezing to teen boys? To end all those accidental pregnancies and had to go through some process while sober to get pregnant? It ruins lives to produce unwanted kids because beer and a Saturday night coincided.

@Anonbene

Unwanted pregnancies cause misery to all parties..but as for freezing sperm and handing out free mass vasectomies..is just not gonna cut it..no pun intended.

Old fashioned common sense should limit the damage..but yes it's not as common as it should be..so many abortions..its a shame.

I stand corrected..we are indeed a species.
Furthermore you are correct to point out that we will at some stage become an extinct species..as will all life on earth.
It's really the bit in between I was looking at. I may take it then that you would be ever so slightly leaning towards pessimism then. Cheers. ?

I choose to believe it will be better with the likes of people like us around to shake things up..or at least throw a sceptical freethinking eye over the proceedings. ??

@Hitchens there is no doubt, it will be better...I just don't worry about things out of my hands. Have a good weekend !!

@IamNobody

Thanks Pal..I will..off work all next week..?

@Hitchens nice !!!!!

@IamNobody

Actually its 2 weeks..Im halfway through my annual leave..Yay! ?

@Hitchens oky doky, enjoy....some of us have to work !!! ????? (jelous in a good way) ????

@IamNobody

?? Well don't work to hard! ??

I know there were different concerns and hurdles to climb in every generation..maybe some of their solutions were kicking a can down the same road we are kicking the can down..

But I think I know what you mean..somethings are getting better compared to before..somethings are getting decidedly worse..we are waiting to exhale again.