(December 11, 2014 at 4:34 pm)professor Wrote: I was watching a Youtube vid a couple of days ago by David Berlinski, and he was saying how there is a resurgence of "Things are getting better" as the people who lived during the 20th century are dying off.
Some probably do naively think we are on the upward path to improvement in all realms. But I am quite sure there are as many as a percent among we atheists as there is among your ilk that do not share that sentiment. Undeniably some things have gotten better. Infant mortality for example. But other things have gotten worse such as community cohesiveness as the world becomes a smaller less isolated place. Or you could look at the cost of higher education now versus when we were of college age, or the income inequality gap during that same time frame.
But the old adage that the more things change the more they remain the same is also true. Some people are pessimist about change others embrace it or exploit it. Some people get ill, sick or killed. Others live longer than ever.
There are no signs of an approaching apocalypse unless you're wed to that expectation. The end of your world and mine is closer than it was when we were younger, but universe is not all about us. One drop went by, another followed. Some grow up, some lay down and expire. It was always so .. and will be until the sun eats the earth and the black hole at the center of the galaxy eats our sun .. and whatever lays beyond our ken signals the end of some larger cycle. Enjoy your time and let others do the same.
