Quote Originally Posted by Quantummist
I can see your bright and smiley non pessimistic view just oozing out every pore... Its been 15,000 to 30,000 years since mankind was smacked down by nature and I see nothing on the horizon that tells me we will be smacked again before we gain the knowledge to pack a suit case and pop off this ball.

Yes we could get poped by a big rock next week but we had the same chanch 10 years ago or 5,000 years ago.. and it didn't happen..
Well... the problems which mankind will have to worry about in the future are the ones caused by mankind, or by mankind's influence over the environment.

Take the so-called global warming, for example. The nature have its own complicated cycle of recycling the CO2, so its level has been almost constant for centuries. But now, its levels are rising, the planet is becoming hotter, and all the delicate equilibrium of the climate is being altered. The seasons are changing. The hurricanes are becoming stronger. You all who live in u.s. knows how destructive a hurricane can be, and how impotent is all our technology face the nature's forces, even today.

And this problem i cited is only one of many others. There is the hunger (millions of people dies of starvation, you know), the diseases, the wars and so.

Quote Originally Posted by Quantummist
And at the rate knowledge and technology increase I tend to think we will gain the ability before we kill each other off. It took thousands of years before we could go from fire to indoor pluming . A few hundred years ago we were living at the center of the universe on a pancake. A bit over a hundred years ago we figured how to get our feet off the ground and today we are sending our little gadgets out into the vastness, living in orbit, exploring the bottom of the sea and conversating here and now in ways that our forefathers would think to be magic.

The rate of technology advancement increases as we gain knowledge. We may very well pull a new rabbit out of the technology hat at any moment...
You must remember that the technology is restricted to the richest countries, and mostly used to bring more richness for them (and consequently more poverty to the poorer ones). The ones who have the power to change anything dont want to, if it were to mean less profit for them. Money is the ruler of this world, unfortunately.

I could go on and on on this subject, but i dont want to enter in a political/sociological/historical/etc discussion, so i will stop here. I hope you have got my point, though.
If all people were good, and if all people cared about the common well-being, i would agree with you, and would have some hope in the future.
But, unfortunately, people are becoming more and more selfish... thats why i have lost my hope, and wait for the end.

And, Mr.Bubbles, there is nothing i (or anyone) can do. Can you make the peoples mind for changing their ways? Can you make them less selfish and more altruist? Can you make people love less the money and more their neighbors? I know i cant.
BTW, i dont care about the future. It will come, regardless my caring or not. So, i choose dont care, cause i know my caring will not change it. And yes, i believe in doom. Thats why i think this world is doomed.