Here's a funny asymmetry I've started noticing online:

* Whenever a person or group do something bad, the response is always, "Look how much humanity sucks."

* Whenever a person or group does something good, the response is always, "Look how good those particular people are."

Now, there is a positive explanation for this: It's good to give credit. When someone does something particularly good, it diminishes their act to say that it's just another example of humanity.

But at the same time, the aggregate effect of this bias is that always appears that humanity sucks with the rare exception of a few blessed individuals. But the opposite is much more likely to be true.

Or it could could be more that solving bounded problems that involve moving atoms around - like building a space telescope - is relatively easy.

But solving unbounded problems that involve moving emotions and attitudes around - like building a planetary culture that isn't violent, irrational, and collectively suicidal - is hard.

It’s called being a pessimist.

Martin Seligman teaches in the book Learned Optimism that:

Optimists think any good thing that happens is permanent, pervasive and personal.

Optimists think any bad thing that happens is impermanent, specific and impersonal.

Pessimists flip flop these explanatory styles. The people you’re commenting on seem to be pessimistic about humanity.

There is also those who paid for something getting all or non of the credit depending on the settings.

Ah, you know, this is as much humanity's success as global warming is its failure. We built a world that can make both these things.

But somehow humanity works as a whole for these achievements. The higher education, the infrastructure, the people merely cleaning the launch site facilities, all get a sense out of this.

Using the same filter, I'd say non-Boeing engineers. After the 737Max revelations, the fact that they can't figure out why their space capsule doesn't work, etc, I'd be very very concerned for any of their space craft not screwing up after the launch. All of those $numberOfMinutesOfTerror would be excruciating from a Boeing engineered anything at this point.

Boeing management, not engineers.

And they're probably fine if they're supervised by NASA employees working for the government.

Yeah, that's a bit broad, but citizens who still work towards doing useful things through public policy deserve some recognition, here.