To throw it all away and "hope for the best" is foolish to say the least. If your life is good or tolerable, if you appreciate the wealth of knowledge and culture etc. it's because its been a long path to where we are. If you stop caring and stop trying, you're simply degenerating to a state where life is much harder, less cultured, with probably less creativity, entertainment, and so on. Cases of people genuinely preferring to live an isolated life in the jungle are extremely rare I believe. When I start romanticizing the Wild Life, I remember my grandmother that had a very difficult childhood, working all day in coffee plantations. She didn't learn how to read until later in life because feeding her family was the priority. She later, for the most part, resented farms and greatly appreciated the urban life -- she could still take care of a plant or two in her backyard. It's very easy to sit on top of civilization with disdain. I think it's our responsibility not only to maintain it, but to make the future amazing, as much as our imagination allows.
(Here is my personal contribution: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29547638)
Re the referenced comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29544104
That's pretty much the opposite of the point of view you seem to be extolling. You are right now living a uniquely special easier life. You are choosing not to sacrifice it for the hope of a better outcome, even though it may not be possible.
I believe Life will persevere, sometimes getting better, sometimes getting worse, for millennia in the future.
A comment in a different thread on hacker news today quoted this from a book: > "Life is composed of reality configurations so constituted. To abandon [my wife] would be to say, I can't endure reality as such. I have to have uniquely special easier conditions."
I don't believe I have to fight or feel guilty that some people in the near future will not get a uniquely special easier life.
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As another example, there is this community on the internet called LessWrong, whose members believe that the single biggest problem facing humanity right now is the impending arrival of AGI (artificial general intelligence). Many of them truly believe this problem is so urgent and important that you shouldn't be able to think about anything else. But I would guess (if you don't happen to be one of them) you don't really think or care about that. Maybe thinking about this analogy will help you find an answer to your question.