Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

I don't know about you, but I'm hitting a wall on the dystopian vision of the future. I know reality is grim these days, but are we REALLY heading toward Earth's destruction? Humanity has had the ability to wipe out ourselves and the planet for decades, but we haven't done it yet. I'd like to think this means humanity has it in them to overcome our current challenges and actually do better. Or at least not to be idiots and actually pull the trigger on the "big bombs!"

The basis of my latest book is that humanity has succeeded in steps toward a better world, but are knocked over by something from beyond Earth. The premise is that it trouble usually comes from places where you aren't looking, and my future has drastically reduced the space program for the sake of advancements in technology and medical science. No doomsday asteroids or rogue planets, but rather other things "out there" coming to us.

I'm interested to know what readers and other writers think. How do you see our future? Not so long ago, it was environmental elements that were dominating our visions of the future. It was about saving the planet to save ourselves. Now, our fiction assumes that either the people, the planet, or both are going up in flames, and is about the survivors rebuilding humanity from the ashes. Is the dystopian turn in scifi a true reflection on how most people see Earth's future? Or will we face different challenges?

Maybe those awoken to the dangers of nuclear war, climate change, or the mass ignorance and dismissal of all issue that affect our lives - whether knowingly or unknowingly - hope in a doomsday, to wake one day among the survivors. To some extent I do: I wish all those uncaring people were unable to endanger the planet and the lives of those who care. Seems impossible they will ever care, so fiction tends to give them no chance at all to redeem themselves.

It seems in fact that the majority of people nowadays prefer to go on with the motion of things; to change them takes efforts, time, and a will they don't have or don't wish to spend on doing any good to others, to the planet. Selfish entitlement. I guess fiction is the escapology of those hoping for a chance in better, as said.