The funny thing - to me anyway - is that I've been turned into an optimist on some things simply because everyone else seems hell-bent on being a pessimist about them. Its part of my contrarian make-up I suppose.
Still, I believe I'm right on this, otherwise I wouldn't waste my time blogging it.
Inspired (or pissed off by) a person who will remain nameless yet is linked to me on Facebook, I feel the need to address the notion that, as a species, we're heading for calamity / oblivion / certain doom.
Whether it be our dependence on something finite - namely oil, or global warming, over-population, freak weather occurrences, nuclear war, or even an asteroid striking the earth, certain people feel compelled to ruin everyone's good mood by pointing out that the good times have been and gone, and we must knuckle down and prepare for the worst.
The worst is subjective of course, and such thoughts come only from a white idiot living in a western culture. And I say this because to me, such thoughts can only be entertained because a person's life is so good. To a starving individual living in third world conditions, whether or not we're prepared for the financial meltdown that will come from lack of oil is slightly lower on the priorities list - and certainly not 'the worst' in their eyes compared to where the fuck is the next meal coming from TODAY.
Its almost like people look round in a panic when they realise they're okay. That life is okay, and thanks to the systems put in place and the love of those around them, it will pretty much always be okay. Its common for pessimists to look for the bad when everything is good.
So let's start with an amazing quote by a chap called Thomas Babington Macaulay. He said, "On what principle is it, that when we see nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us?".
Brilliant. Think about his point. There are many things that could upset the boat and throw us all overboard, but coulds are all around us. You could get knocked down tomorrow, or you could live until you're 100. Which 'could' do you prepare for? You probably, like me, indeed like all of us, prepare for a little of both. So bad things could happen, but if history is our guide, we'll only ever improve our lot. And not just our lot either, the lives of those less fortunate than us here in the west. Its not that things can only get better, its that things are great and getting better all the time for us lucky ones here.
The species known as human beings are fucking incredible. They are ingenious. They've developed all sorts, from the Wunderbra to space travel. Whatever comes our way, we will invent our way out of it. Its what we do. Its why we've got this far and, even though this view makes me remarkably unpopular, its what separates us from the animals. They've evolved to suit their surroundings, we create our surroundings. We also cheat evolution. Every time you have sex using a prophylactic, you're cheating an evolutionary drive. Every time you fly on holiday, you're saying "Evolution, we can't wait around for you to develop humans with wings, we'll do it ourselves". We're smart enough to do this.
We've also fucked up. Developing nuclear weapons, giving ourselves the ability to blow ourselves to oblivion may not be seen as a smart move. I think it is. I think we have become the very Gods we used to worship. The problem is not with the design and development of the weapons, but rather with the people who control them. That's for another blog though.
There's also people who think we're damaging this world beyond repair. Any alarmist news story will tell you that there's a number of species being wiped out. We are making species extinct with our lust for destroying the planet. Factually, only 1% of ALL species are alive right now. The other 99% are already extinct. We didn't wipe them out, because we couldn't have, because we weren't around. Mother Nature did it instead. But how many environmentalists want to have a go at Mother Nature? None of them, because she knows what she's doing. Let her do it then.
A catastrophic incident, such as an asteroid striking the earth or the volcano in Yellowstone Park erupting (its past due for an eruption, which would spew enough ash into the atmosphere to block out the sun and...well, in a nut shell, kill us all. And they're worried about you driving a 2 litre car because it 'pollutes the atmosphere'?), is something that you really cannot do much about. But maybe, one day and hopefully pretty soon, some smart arse will invent a preventative measure to things such as this. We can do it. We have the technology.
At the start of the 20th Century, some idiot claimed that everything that could be invented, has been invented. We were supreme, there was nowhere else to go. How wrong can one person be? Things have come along since then that have blown minds, made living easier, and saved countless lives. We're at the start of the 21st Century now, and you can bet your life savings (not much of a gamble for me) that the same thing will happen again. A citizen of England in 1901 could not have conceived the idea of the iPod. Not a chance. It would be Martian technology to them. Here we are and its commonplace. Think of what's in store for us, and our grandchildren.
It will be amazing. And the best thing of all, your grandchildren will be around to see it, experience it, and love it, regardless of what the doom-mongerers say.
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