I think that on the whole, things are going much better for the human race than they used to.

Fewer people worldwide are living in dire poverty. Global literacy is 80%. Famine is not a spectre over every person's head as it was decades ago. More people live in democracies than ever.

Sure, there's plenty to do yet, too many problems and never enough time, but history is littered with the tragedies of those who predicted catastrophe.