In the long term, current problems fade away.
This is a superb piece describing a series of snapshots of life on Earth from 10 to 10 billion years in factors of 10. I particularly liked this description of the banality of human nature from the 10 and 100 year views.
Among those who recognize that something’s wrong, one widely accepted viewpoint holds that fusion power, artificial intelligence, and interstellar migration will shortly solve all our problems, and therefore we don’t have to change the way we live. Another, equally popular, insists that total human extinction is scarcely a decade away, and therefore we don’t have to change the way we live. Most people who worry about the future accept one or the other claim, while the last chance for meaningful systemic change slips silently away.
The first reminds me of a thought I'd already had that they are like 2nd year students in student digs. There's no need to worry about cleaning or the state of the house as they'll be leaving soon anyway, never to return. The second are like 2nd year students in digs that are only cheap because they're scheduled for demolition. Who cares if there's no shower or hot water, we'll be out soon and anyway they're pulling down the building next year.
I end up pulling what's left of my hair out sometimes when true believers in imminent apocalypse insist that the only alternative to total cataclysm is Utopia. Life can get very, very, very hard without getting anywhere close to the end of life on earth.
And also: http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.it/2012/09/the-next-ten-billion-years.html