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As religious faith has declined, comment intensity on HN has risen.

All joking aside this is a pretty well-known phenomenon that folks like Hegel and Nietzsche have discussed. The Enlightenment has had its tentacles on formalized religion for over 300 years in the Western World.

Nietzsche’s mad man who runs about the town telling people that “God is Dead” is not meant to be taken as a positive or light statement. Nietzsche posited that many of the key elements of modern society would cease to have meaning. Why then, if man is not created in the image of God, should man treat fellow man in any which way? What justification does one have for not harming fellow man if his fellow man is but ape?

Books I loved with perspectives on this are “Enlightenment Now” by Steven Pinker and “The Rise of the Modern Self” by Carl Trueman.

“You gotta serve somebody.” -Bob Dylan

How many of those things are just unnecessary red-tape and bureaucracy, intended to justify spending on what is essentially jobs programs? I too remember the "save the forests" campaigns back in middle school when alternative bags were recommended. Some politician and their office somewhere were getting an easy cushy job mandating those types of things and moving paper around to "save the forests." So I am skeptical when things are mandated and taxes collected for paper pushing, optimistic when companies are formed to earn contracts as rewards for the problems they solve.

Book recommendation that can dispel cynicism about the future: Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker. Few years old at this point but still relevant and worth reading.

"Enjoy the time we have left"

Please. What a joke.

Read the IPCC reports. They are projecting massive increases in the wealth and health of the whole world in all future emissions scenarios.

Some scenarios are just worse than others, but all are better than today.

The world has been improving for centuries. The idea that we need to "enjoy what time we have left" is absolutely insane. It's pseudo-science

Yes, human impacts on the environment cause problems. No, they aren't going to cause human extinction.

Read "Enlightenment Now" or "The Rational Optimist" for some perspective.