Well not if we don't work toward it!

A leisure-filled society is an inherently stable thing. It's just not a direction we're headed. But perhaps those of us with long-term vision can steer things a little.

After all, those slums aren't a stable thing. They're a civil war waiting to happen.

I would argue that we're mostly there already.

The future is already here, just not evenly distributed. SFO doesn't look like Detroit... yet, but give it time for the brush strokes in the paint to smooth out.

People love to believe the sky is falling. Fortunately, it rarely does.

LOL what makes you think he's not living in Argentina or Greece or Detroit or (insert pretty much any 3rd world) today?

You'd like to Think it can't happen to you, maybe even make fun of people who suggest it could happen so you'll feed better. That doesn't mean it won't happen to you anyway.

The startup lesson here is its OK to have your illusions, especially if they're fun or make you feel good, but making decisions based on illusions being true leads to disaster more often than not.

>People love to believe the sky is falling. Fortunately, it rarely does.

Survivorship bias. That and (if an American) living in a country with a shortish history (mostly upwards until now).

The sky has fallen tons of times for lots of cultures and even whole empires.

Once there was a Babylon for real and an assorted thriving empire with millions of people. Once the Roman Empire ruled the world. Once Native American Indias lived and roamed their land as they pleased. Once there was a thriving Jewish community in Germany and Europe.

I object to those last two! Those communities didn't collapse, they were deliberately murdered from outside.

Well, who said anything about "internal collapse" only?

We're talking about "the sky is falling" situations (or, more generally, dire outcomes).

Those can be both external and/or internal.

And the original "sky is falling" metaphor that the parent used also favours outside factors.