The Restaurant at the End of History
We live in strange times. In many ways, things have never been better. The world is mostly peaceful. Poverty has decreased in most parts of the world. Globally, most children live to adulthood, probably for the first time in human history. In developed societies, such as the US, almost everyone has adequate food and shelter. The kings of old would have boggled at the array of food in a typical grocery store. We have little gadgets that allow us to easily communicate with friends, family and strangers around the world in less than a second. We live in an era of relative peace and prosperity that, by almost any measure, is the best of times. And yet, it feels as if we are living in end times. In many ways, the future has never seemed so bleak. The engines of progress have stalled. New problems are emerging that humanity seems unable to understand and acknowledge, let alone solve. These new problems include population growth, dysgenics, finite resources, and the mismatch between huma