It's cause for mixed feelings and deep misgivings. Moreover, there are reasons to think we already have what it takes. Too bad human decency and justice haven't kept pace with our technological progress. Here is another. No past era featured as much cruelty and misery as this one.
People seem to draw perverse pleasure from such statements, even though they are patently false.
In fact, over half of those alive on Earth today never saw war, starvation or major civil strife with their own eyes. Most never went more than a day without food. Only a small fraction have seen a city burn, heard the footsteps of a conquering army, or watched an overlord exercise capricious power of life and death over helpless serfs. Yet these events were routine for most of our ancestors. I won't minimize the terrors so many still endure.