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Originally Posted by Acajack
We'll also likely be looked upon very harshly for our unwillingness to find a lasting solution to the global problem of hunger. Especially since a solution is definitely within our grasp, but we're collectively unwilling to sacrifice even a smidgen of comfort or even forgo version 7 of the latest gadget and settle for version 6, in order to prevent millions from dying from malnutrition or starvation every year.
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Yes although a lot of problems like this that are hard to solve require collective action and when it comes to the worst ones we are trapped in a giant prisoner's dilemma. Humans are often trapped in larger systems that force them to make decisions that are harmful at a societal level to achieve positive personal outcomes. This is why capitalism causes so many bad things to happen and it's why people were murdering each other in the 1700's.
You can either blame the people trapped inside these systems for not becoming martyrs or you can try to understand the forces at play. If I had to bet though I would bet that you are correct and 200 years from now there will still be people who don't understand this dynamic and choose the first option.
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I think that our overall treatment of the poor, especially children and the elderly, will be shocking to people in the future.
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I think our criminal justice system will stand out as being barbaric. It operates on a large scale, it's cruel, and it's irrational and ineffective.
I also think the free market capitalist system we have today will look really silly in the future, if we continue to progress. It might even be replaced with something more closely resembling the never-fully-realized 1950's Soviet dream command economy.