I just viewed a very encouraging  TED video presentation delivered by Peter Diamandis,  Chairman of the  X-Prize Foundation.  The X-Prize game is to put up a large cash prize, open to anyone who can achieve a lofty technical breakthrough.  An example: Burt Rutan and Richard Branson won a million dollar X-Prize for leading the first private industry effort to successfully send a human beyond the atmosphere into space and back.

Here is a link to the X-Prize Foundation

http://www.xprize.org/

Diamandis's TED presentation was very upbeat. He highlighted the remarkable progress human civilization has made on many fronts, and he suggests that despite the serious problems we face that we will find technical solutions for these problems. He sees a future for humanity that is marked with abundance.

I liked what Peter Diamandis had to say, though I do find his level of optimism a bit pollyanish.   Technology is not going to solve the human population problem.  There are already way too many of us, plain and simple. Much of the biodiversity that is being lost to human overexploitation of the planet's finite resources will never be recovered or restored.  I would feel much more optimistic about Peter Diamandis's predictions if we were giving proper attention to these issues.

Here is the link to Diamandis's TED Presentation...

http://www.ted.com/talks/peter_diamandis_abundance_is_our_future.html