The world we currently live in is less rational that the one of 20 - 50 - 100 years ago and the trend is toward even more fanaticism and less rationality. 20 years ago we were at the brink of a nuclear holocaust.
Roughly 50 years ago, Europe and Japan were smoking ruins.
100 years ago Europe was was carving up the entire planet into fascistic fiefdoms.
I don't know how you quantify "rationality".
What has changed is our destructive capacity is growing. The Democratization of WMD is not a good thing but a natural outcome of the Cold War.
As for the natural selection of the 'markets' eliminating the cooks and the crooks, keep dreaming. Encouraging and supporting failure while punishing and discouraging success has been the law in most of the worlds and our government is curretly expending lots of resources to enforce the above rule.
Dead on. Government's only legitimate function is the defense of life,liberty and property. The Enlightenment is under attack and is dying. It will most likely perish in Europe. In America? Not if I can help it.
And... thanks for trying so hard to stick a label on my views. Trust me. I'm not happy that we are heading where we are heading - I have kids too. But... I'm sorry to say, we ARE heading that way. If you disagree, please describe Earth let's say, 1000 years from today.
I should have put more glue on that label, it fell right off. I don't think genocide will help anything. Label me an optimist.
"Label me an optimist."
LoL!
You are diametrically opposed to optimism. Optimists don't run around posting ridiculous gloom and doom articles at every turn. Optimists don't whine that our tax structure is too burdensome to permit us to survive economically, and optimists don't claim that the world is about to homogenize U-238 "gun" atomic weapons.
Optimists look on the bright side. Those aren't examples of looking on the bright side.
You are deluding yourself if you think that you are an optimist.
You aren't.
Furthermore, the Japanese aren't going to surpass the American economy. Nor are the Europeans or Chinese. Nor will tomorrow's new supermen, the Indians.
Of course, I fully expect you to fall hook, line, and sinker for whatever the next gloom and doom fad that comes along.
Heck, you're probably still shorting American real-estate stocks, too...