losing the dream

On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 1:05 AM, Joe Strout wrote:
(...)
> Those of us who follow technology closely can clearly see that that's
> not the case. Life a century from now will be radically different from
> the present in many ways, certainly including space colonization (and
> other things that would be off-topic for this list). But as a citizen,
> and especially as a father, it's very disturbing to me how few people
> ever look up and see more than just pretty lights in the sky.
(...)

Surely it is sad that the Western civilization [*] has reached that
state of mind where all the dreams and aspirations for the future are
dead, and perhaps it is just one of the many early symptoms of its
decline, but I get consolation in the statistical near-certainty that
one day we - as in "we, human beings" - will leave Earth. For me the
best personal medicine against this grim Zeitgeist where we live is to
keep hope - and hope based on reasonable projections.

[*] I really don't know if that joke would work in all parts of the world.