We are All Going to Die! Just not at once!

I had dinner at a diner late last night. The server had a tattoo on each arm. He told me one was done during a dark period of his life (grandmother died, and he broke up with his girlfriend). The other recently and was the Chinese symbol for "wisdom" indicating he had learned from these bad times. Overall, I thought this was good. Bad things happen to all of use and we should learn from them. But as I talked with him more I found that he believed in prophecy and the end of the world.

Well, prophets predicting the end of the world have had a terrible track record. So far, the world has not ended. I told him that it is hard to even come up with any measurable thing that has not improved over time. The starvation rates around the world are going down. We produce more food for less cost per person. The standard of living is going up in most places. We can extract more materials for less cost. Not everything is getting better, but most things are. The progress of science is amazing.

I left him by telling him this: "I study science and technology. You simply have to hang around for the next twenty years, since the wonders you will see will astound you. People think video games and iPhones are cool, but the things that will happen in our lifetimes will be nearly magical. And one more thing...when you get depressed, try listening to a happy song. It works for me"