Do you believe the world will be a better place or a worse place in 50 years?

[Douglas Carpenter]

Poll question: Do you believe the world will be a better place or a worse place in 50 years?

I posted this poll on September 29, 2010. Not too surprisingly, I discovered that many people on DU shared my same pessimistic view of the future:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6645844

However, recent events have caused me to wonder if perhaps there is some hope for the future after all.


I will post the same choice of replies as I did on September 29, 2010

[On the Road]

1. I Must be Old School

In the words of a Chuck Palahniuk character: "When did the future go from being a promise to being a threat?"

[sammytko]

2. Of course it will get better - the old days were bad!

People used to OWN other people.

Read your history. The atrocities commited by all races all over the world was horrific.

[Amonester]

5. Like if 'some' people don't OWN other people nowadays...

Really? No more atrocities commited by anyone now?

Where have you been?

[Hotler]

3. I have no hope. I see no future. eom.

[ChandlerJr]

4. Well, since that would make me over 110 years old, and I doubt that I'll

make it that far...

Obviously a worse place without my bright and cheerful presence.

[KamaAina]

6. Yes.

Better for some, worse for (many) others.

[Amonester]

7. In 50 years, let's say 20 billion human beings suffering...

And maybe 1 million in (fully armed) gated communities...

Soylent green, red, blue... (flavor of the day)

[Odin2005]

36. World population is projected to peak at 9 billion.

[Xithras]

8. I believe that, in the long view of history....

..the last century will be looked at as a short-lived golden age similar to the Renaissance, where freedom, free thought, and inventiveness flourished until they were stamped out by greed and corruption. Between overpopulation, environmental destruction, wealth disparity, and the government whittling away at our freedoms, I look at the future as a fairly dark place.

[HappyMe]

9. Too many variables. Who the hell knows. nt

[FarCenter]

10. The next total war will begin before 50 years

The Black Death jump started a series of expansions followed by four periods of total war, namely the Wars of the Reformation, the Thirty Years War, the French Revolution/Napoleonic Wars and World Wars I&II.

The current expansion is within 3 or 4 decades of ending.

I'd expect biological weapons to be the weapons of choice by then, and the population to be reduced from 9 billion to less than half that within a decade or so.

[monmouth]

11. My grown sons informed me that when they are retirement age they

are leaving the U.S. Of course I won't be around but I think it's sad in a way...

[leftyladyfrommo]

12. Except it's getting bad everywhere.

It's still better here than a lot of other countries.

[deaniac21]

13. It will be much worse because I won't be in it. At least from my

personal perspective.

[Doc_Technical]

14. No future

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeP220xx7Bs

[Iggo]

15. Worse.

[Douglas Carpenter]

16. Perhaps naive on my part - but I thought the OWS movement might have inspired a bit of optimism

but the results of this survey, at least so far are even more negative than the results when I asked the same question a little more than a year ago.

Perhaps my ideological tendency had me thinking that the OWS movement might possibly be indicative of the unleashing of the forces of history. But I guess most here on this forum have not hope in the dialectic.

[Katashi_itto]

29. I think OWS is the last hurrah before things turn violent.

I would really like it to work, but I am skeptical. The system is to entrenched.

[Fire Walk With Me]

17. It is important to face and solve the problems now in front of us, moreso than worrying about the

future. We shape the future with our current actions.

[Douglas Carpenter]

18. kick for some more results

[mnhtnbb]

19. Unless something changes dramatically to reduce the population

growth and the human drive to CONSUME and CONTROL, there may not be a world. Period.

[Taverner]

20. Define "better." Define "worse."

I am a pessimist, in that I think we will be outright slaves of corporations by then, not even a pretense of freedom. Either that, or we will have seized the means of production. There is no "third option." It's seize or die.

Technology will make this somewhat livable. New anti-depressants, new drugs to make you happy...

[Nye Bevan]

21. Windows 23 will still suck

and will still have the disappearing systray icons bug.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Depends current course no

But humans at times react to historic challenges.

[Douglas Carpenter]

23. perhaps some more results would be interesting

I'm still wondering if some people might feel a little bit more optimist about the future because of the OWS movement. Do people at least have the hope that this is indicative of a turn of the tide?

[Douglas Carpenter]

24. for the next shift

[Lisa0825]

25. Other: Robb is a dingbat. nt

[louslobbs]

26. If corporations, their lobbyists, and money are out of politics, and if elections aren't rigged

with all votes verified with a paper trail,
and if activist, right wing, Supreme Court Justices who rule in favor of corporations over people and consult their bibles when deciding cases, are no longer appointed to the court,
and if this country passed a law like Canada's Radio Act which requires that "a licenser may not broadcast ... any false or misleading news,"
and if regulations are imposed and strictly enforced on the corporations (especially wall street),
and if the enforcement of the separation of church and state were to finally be taken seriously,
and if the next generations are taught, that the power of love should be valued more than the love of power, then yes, I could see a better world 50 years from now.
Lou

[Douglas Carpenter]

27. another

[Crunchy Frog]

28. In 50 years, no. In 200 years, maybe.

[AverageJoe90]

30. Things probably will get much better here in N. America and perhaps parts of Europe.........

.......TBH, though, I'm afraid much of the rest of the world could very well be a hellhole. Wouldn't be surprised to see total anarchy in Central Africa or a badly fractured China dominated by the 21st century versions of warlords.

[Dover]

31. People get ready, there's a train a comin

It's an honor...a gift...to be here now. We, who hear the calling, are all uniquely qualified to answer.
There is a great purpose and we all know what it is in our core.
It is not about jobs or money or healthcare or pensions...this is about inner movement toward the peace and love
that lies at our true center. It is about reverance for life, for humanity and the planet and a recognition of
our connection and place within the whole.
That is what we're here to free. There are times of great sadness and times
of great joy as the train moves forward. But there is no fear.




Aug. 26, 2003 -- Part of the March on Washington's legacy is its music. Singer and songwriter Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" was written in the year after the march. For many, it captured the spirit of the march -- the song reaches across racial and religious lines to offer a message of redemption and forgiveness. It's the latest report by NPR's Juan Williams on the march, which took place 40 years ago this week.

After hearing the Rev. Martin Luther King deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech that August day in 1963, the crowd of 250,000 sang "We Shall Overcome." In 1965, another gospel song emerged -- "People Get Ready" by Mayfield and the Impressions.

People get ready, there's a train a-comin'
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'
Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord

In addition to the march, the song followed several jarring events in American history: the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham -- which killed four little girls -- and the assassination of President Kennedy.

Music critic Stanley Crouch explains Mayfield's response to those events: "...by saying 'There's a train a-coming, get ready' that was like saying, okay, so regardless of what happens, get yourself together for this because you are going to get a chance. Your chance is coming."

"The train that is coming in the song speaks to a chance for redemption -- the long-sought chance to rise above racism, to stand apart from despair and any desire for retaliation -- an end to the cycle of pain," Williams adds.

Mayfield, who was living in Chicago at the time of the march, had grown up in the black church singing gospel. In a 1993 interview with NPR's Terry Gross, he said the song was a subconscious product of "the preachings of my grandmothers and most ministers when they reflect from the Bible."

The song became one of the first gospel crossover hits, while at the same time continuing a tradition of American folklore -- the train of salvation -- in the vein of Woody Guthrie and Johnny Cash's popular versions of "This Train's Bound For Glory." Mayfield sings about the same train stopping to pick up the faithful of all colors.

"I think it's a song that touches people..." says Peter Burns, the author of the biography Curtis Mayfield: People Never Give Up. "It is a song of faith really, a faith that transcends any racial barrier and welcomes everyone onto the train. The train that takes everyone to the promised land, really."

In fact, since its debut in 1965, "People Get Ready" has become a classic for black and white musicians. Bob Marley used the guitar riff and some of the lyrics in his reggae song "One Love." A montage in Williams' report includes versions by Rod Stewart, James Taylor, Eva Cassidy, Phil Collins and Paul Jackson Jr. Bruce Springsteen has quoted from "People Get Ready" as part of his concert performances in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Curtis Mayfield died in 1999. 'People Get Ready,' the song inspired by the March on Washington, lives on. It's idealism and optimism make it the ultimate crossover -- crossing not only racial barriers but generations," Williams says.

http://www.npr.org/news/specials/march40th/people.html

[Douglas Carpenter]

32. any more?

[Odin2005]

33. I'm a long-term optimist. The world will be a better place 50 years from now.

The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

[Lyric]

34. I'm the same way.

I think that in 50 years, things will HAVE to be better. People can't survive like this for much longer.

[lunatica]

35. Humanity might be extinct at the rate we're going

The world will be a better place if that happens.

[LWolf]

37. Other:

I can't focus on 50 years from now. I have to survive today. I'm more worried about what the next year will bring than what will be happening 50 years down the road.

Yes, I want to make changes now that will be positive for the future, including the future I won't see.

Starting with NOW would be good.

[GliderGuider]

38. The world will actually seem quite normal to most of the people living in it 50 years from now.

People tend to form their opinions of what constitutes a normal world between the ages of 5 and 10. The people who will perceive the biggest changes will be those who are born right about now.

However, people who are already old enough to be typing on the intertubes are probably going to have some major freakouts over the next 30 years, let alone the next 50. Something's happening here, the time's they are a'changin', a hard rain's gonna fall and all that...


On the other hand, for people who are awake, aware and appreciate the exhilaration of massive, rapid chages, those same 30 years are going to be the mother of all amusement park rides.

[Douglas Carpenter]

39. trying some more

[Raine]

40. Doom & Destruction nt

:-(

[Douglas Carpenter]

41. some more results?