Hope?

Well, yes and no. Depends on what you mean by hope. A certain modicum of local resistance I suppose is necessary for our self-respect. But to believe we will return? No. Not ever. Not even. Our current prosperous liberty, if you can call it that, has been a freak.

Among the certainties that have crumbled, though, are the nuclear winter (apparently it won't amount to much? Maybe it even mitigates global warming, who knows?) And, more importantly to me, the presumed continuity of the zookeepers, their ability to keep the cages intact while breaking all the bones of the cities. No, I don't think so. An enormous global economy is needed for the least of the emperor's clothes. The supply chains and energy requirements of cutting edge AI are enormous, and the economic return on them is meager. Our pursuit of this, and other silly but vastly expensive enterprises (settling Mars! Living forever!) will exhaust us even before the environmental degradation is complete. So the the emperor's hams will go naked soon enough, Bad times, of course: that was a given. But neither controlled nor saturated. 

What is certain is that more is now required of me: more courage, more resource, more determination, more love. Most of us will fall to no purpose in the blind eddies of history. That's all right. We were promised nothing. We are not here to be dealt treats and favors: we are here to build a world.

Does that count as hope? For me it does. I never expected much: I grew up in a bitter school.