I didn't expect to survive. When we saw World War II coming along, we thought it would be bacteriological, and we all expected to die of the plague. So in the meantime we had a good time. The war was so much more comfortable and manageable than we had ever imagined it could be. Things are going amazingly well.
Younger people have so many opportunities.
I don't see any pessimism among them. I wonder how this relates to pace, because you, more than anybody, like to think in the long term - in centuries. Whereas a lot of our behavior seems to respond to what we think at the year level or the next-week level. Yes, by and large. Maybe there is a science fiction angle I can use to describe this sentiment.