I think we are in a pivotal point in history. It is during this time that we have both the capabilities to do great good for humanity, or destroy it. We are in an age of scientific and technological advancement that has never been paralleled before in our history. I'm an optimist and am prone to imagining a world where humanity has outgrown its greed and has replaced it with compassion, a world where scientific and social progress are driven, not by competition to outsurvive, but through competition to outcreate. I feel that we have a very good chance of building this world. Despite there being a number of conflicts throughout our world, we are in a more stable and more peaceful society then ever before. And most of the conflicts that are occurring are mostly growing pains, conflicts centered around a group of people's fear of progress. Despite there still being impoverished and starving, people all over the world are contributing to the collective war against hunger and poverty and they are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Of course, whether the progress we have made in the last half century will continue is ultimately up to us. For this reason, despite continual rambling about our generation being the narcissistic and lazy generation, I believe that we can and eventually must disprove these names as false, if we are to progress past the petty differences and conflicts which stifle our growth. If we do this, we will be remembered as the greatest generation yet, for we have the collective choice to be the stepping stone to greatest or to destruction.
I am personally fond of the Star Trek universe where under a "New World Economy material needs and money no longer exist and humanity has grown out of its infancy. People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things, effectively eliminating hunger and want and the need for possessions. The challenge and driving force were to self-improvement, self-enrichment and the betterment of all humanity."
As I said, I'm an optimist and I might be totally wrong in dreaming about this seemingly perfect world, however what is humanity but a dream which we all share.