Doom and Gloom

Came across Matt Ridley's muse about doom and gloom and I have to agree.  In fact, I'd take it back a little further to the early memories in the earlier post.  How soon after birth, or at least with memory, are we barraged with messages from the "adults" and authorities about being careful about all the things that could hurt or kill us.  Heck, life has barely begun and the child is already being prepped for danger and death.  I like Ridley's perspective - the end of the earth, no more oil, the sun's going to bake us all, no more food, mass starvation, the plague to end all plagues... - has never come about.  The evolution of humans is always improving and, I have learned, a rising tide lifts all boats.  And the tide of human affairs is always rising.