does it only *seem* like we're doomed?

[Syrinx]

Does everyone, of a certain age, feel gloomy?

Or, is this planet spinning out of control?

And I don't blame the president.

[Cary]

1. Of course we're doomed

Our species is an unsuccessful adaptation. Our rank stupidity is our fatal flaw and we will render ourselves extinct. It's just a matter of time.

[tom_paine]

10. Well said.

My only (minor) beef is that "rank stupidity" may be a little overbroad a characterization.

Shortsightedness, yes. An inability to recognize let alone overcome our increasingly counterproductive evolutionary imperatives, yes.

Maybe that and the rest could be gathered under the rubric of "rank stupidity".

In either case, you stated one of the great truths of human existance that overpopulation and our rampant techno-triumphalism is finally bringing into stark relief.

Humanity is on a dead-end trip to nowhere, with the same inbred Aristocratic morons at the whell as have ALWAYS been at the wheel.

[Cary]

13. Thanks

My minor beef with your reply is your use of the word "finally". We are an unsuccessful adaptation not because we are on a dead-end trip to nowhere, but rather because our species has existed only 20,000 years. "Finally" suggests that our species has been around a long time, but 20,000 years is nothing.

[LiberalLoner]

2. I'm going to be 49 soon, and I do feel we are doomed...but then I've been

reading about peak oil/peak everything for quite a few years now and I'm kind of seeing it all play out, along with climate change, etc. I read James Kunstler's column faithfully every Monday and although it's extremely pessimistic, it tells the truth about the future I think. Although he is given to making predictions in certain timeframes, which I wish he would stop doing, since timing is such a variable thing usually. There WILL be a huge collapse and die-off, but when? I don't know when. I do know it's coming, and I fear sooner rather than later.

[Tobin S.]

3. Well, we're all doomed eventually

But there's no point in obsessing over it. I'm alive now and, dammit, I'm going to have a good time. :party:

I do know what you are saying, though. If you are constantly glued to the latest news program you might get the impression that we're all going to hell in a handbasket. We aren't. I think the news channels are designed to make you feel that way to keep you tuned in to learn when your demise will occur. It sells a lot of stuff.

[dipsydoodle]

4. yes

.

[Scuba]

5. The planet's not doomed....

...it'll be here for billions of years.

How long mankind will last is another question. The "collapse and die-off" described above is inevitable. How many will survive, and what will become of them, is yet another, different question.

[Javaman]

6. We are only doomed because humanity has made it so...

the earth, on the other hand, not so much. It will be here long after we are gone. And in the grand scheme of things, we aren't the most successful life form that has lived on the earth.

We are a blip in the time line.

We just think we are special for some reason.

[sufrommich]

7. Frequent breaks from DU will cure you of that. nt

[ProgressiveVictory]

8. Im 22 about to be 23 in august and I feel that the future for us and the U.S. is good.

We are in a downturn right now but we will come out of it and be fine again. Im not worried.

[ProgressiveVictory]

9. Im 22 about to be 23 in august and I feel that the future for us and the U.S. is good.

We are in a downturn right now but we will come out of it and be fine again. Im not worried.

[Skidmore]

11. We're "doomed" because we choose to be.

Period. We choose to be because we listen to the naysayers and those who refuse to see anyway but their way or any issue but theirs in the way they choose to see it. Self-fulfilling prophecies are not just the sole property of the rightwing.

[Brickbat]

12. Well, we're all going to die. You are, I am, everyone on this board is. Everyone you meet is going

to die, and there's nothing any of us can do about it. Sometimes it helps to think about that.

[L0oniX]

14. Unless you can find a replacement for the "ever increasing demand" for oil...

our life style is doomed.