Believe it or not, this is the best time to be alive

[hunter]

24. Most of my formal education is evolutionary biology.

Exponential growth of innovative species always ends, or as they say on the triage deck, the bleeding always stops.

Humans just ain't that special. Sorry. In ten million years this civilization is nothing more than an interesting layer of trash in earth's geologic record, with a few odd bits of metal in outer space.

Even in human scales of history civilizations rise and vanish.

That's not doomerism, that's just ordinary reality.

Our wild fossil fueled party, our exponential population growth and conversion of natural resources into shiny toys, all are consequence of human biological evolution. (I personally think it has to do with story-telling, the stories your grandmother told that you pass on to your grandchildren. Then came the written word, and next you know everyone is fighting over religion... utterly illogical.)

We humans are not the first time such biological innovations have led to explosive growth and then collapse. It's happened before, and it will happen again.

Personally, I don't like this civilization for many reasons. This thing we call "economic productivity" is a direct measure of the damage we do to the earth and our own human spirit.

If I was the missionary sort, I'd tell everyone to use birth control and chill out. Plant a garden. Stare at the stars. Be kind to your neighbors.

You do know your neighbors, don't you?

What are the essential things? Food, appropriate medicine, comfortable shelter, literacy, numeracy, and art. Resource-wise, in some Utopian world of gradually shrinking populations and increasing automation, these essentials are inexpensive.