you are right about this, but my argument is that we can do this if we want to. Whenever humanity set its sights on a big project such as Apollo or Manhattan, we have accomplished "impossible" things.
Human history is one of both pessimism and optimism. Definitely the optimism of the US in the 1950s and 60s was helped along by the destitution of the Great Depression (1930s+) and WWII. And there was still a lot of suffering and reason to be pessimistic in that time. (And the 30s were a direct result of the 20s.)
I’ve also seen the studies on human cycles suggesting a link between how long ago a period of massive suffering occurred and the propensity for people to entertain ideas likely to bring about great suffering. Simply, people unable to forget the horribleness of war will fend off the little and big things that can lead to war much better than people who have never seen war.
I hope humanity can regain some optimism and direction without having to go through a world war. Or similar.
I find it worrying how much modern fiction is dystopian. I would call Game of Thrones dystopian, for instance, and it was immensely popular. Utopias like Star Trek are often ridiculed, for counterpoint.
Granted, internet comments are generally worthless. The signal to noise ratio in HN comments has gotten extra horrible of late, for that matter. It could be just the low lying fruit for people to get upvotes. But it degrades the site.
