We've had our chance

At the end of Joss Whedon's The Cabin in the Woods, the protagonist declares that the destruction of mankind wouldn't be so bad, because, frankly, we've had our chance at dominating the planet, and we've basically screwed it up. There was a time in my life when I would have found that viewpoint overly pessimistic, but now it makes more and more sense to me all the time. Similarly with Mr. Smith's diagnoses in the Matrix that humanity is a virus that needs to be eradicated. I just don't think we're all that impressive of a species. Individuals? Sure. There are individuals who are great. There are individuals who are nigh divine in their intelligence and artistry. And there are plenty of people who have integrity and intelligence and are committed to organizing society in a rational and compassionate way.

But there are so many more selfish, angry, reactionary, delusional, irrational lumps of ignorance and hate and superstition and xenophobia and bigotry and narcissism. Whatever we manage to build, there will always be this seed, this contingent of humanity waiting to be bamboozled by some charismatic madman into perpetrating horror.

We catapult through history on the backs of geniuses, but we're mostly free riders. It would be one thing if we rode quietly and with gratitude, but we grouse and gripe and thrash the whole time. Discontent sitting there like a loaded gun, waiting for some charlatan to pick it up and shoot the closest convenient group of powerless minorities.