An old folk/rock song from the 1960's by Barry McGuire goes,

"But you tell me
 Over and over and over again, my friend
 How you don't believe

 We're on the eve of destruction"

This refrain follows verses in which the singer laments the frail and parlous state of the world, the threat of nuclear war being but one option amongst a dismal list of human failings. The 1960's was a time of social and political upheaval, of deep questioning about established truths. As now the environment weighed heavily in the debate, though ours seems a far vaster existential threat.

Today, nuclear weapons have not gone away and the Russian dictator often talks airily about their use, defying past practises. I have talked before about the subversion of truth, these being factually established truths, and the erosion of trust in key institutions. Ditto the rise of an all-consuming cynicism and a growing intolerance of other points of view. There is an extremism afoot across either end of the political spectrum.

Well, I could go on and on. By way of balance, I could also point to the many positive achievements in the sciences and medicine and education, of the alleviation of poverty in many countries, of people striving everywhere to make a difference.

Still, when I hear the question arise of what life will be like at the end of this century, it strikes me that we will be lucky to get out of these next half dozen decades alive  at all. If a great filter is ahead of us, woe betide!