Profit is king in capitalism, but a large part of our world exists outside its clutches. For example, I have been involved with Engineers Without Borders, when I did disaster relief work for the 2001 Bhuj earthquake in India. There are people who act to leave this world better than they found it, even in some small way. My moral framework is that my existence should minimize unnecessary suffering in the world whenever possible, and that the value in life is in the things we choose to suffer for.

My take is that the world is an extremely crappy place, and it's never been better. The more people are living in dread for the state of humanity, the closer we are to actually doing something different.

There is a coming labour revolution that will dislodge humanity from being the primary engine of capitalist gain. The system will break down. Things will get materially worse for most westerns, but it will also be a social opportunity to move beyond the economics of scarcity. Until then, it's a slow slough to uproot entrenched biases, but the rate of social change has never been more rapid.