Re: What is your outlook?

Description: The world is getting busier and more crowded, says Lieb.

Question:  Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about the way the world is headed?

Transcript: I . . . I guess I’m pessimistic.  It’s . . . I don’t . . . It’s cliché to be a . . . a sad, funny guy.  Ha-ha.  You know so I’m not . . .  I wanna have kids.  You know I’m not that pessimistic.  I think we’ll be fine.  There’s . . . I think there’s a lot of good people working to make the world better.  It’s not just . . .  You’ve made me pessimistic in this conversation just sort of talking about all the crappy stuff.  But there are a lot of really smart, good people working out there to make the world a better place.  And you know inventions to clean this and to feed that.  And so . . . and to cure that disease.  So . . . and   . . . and . . . and you know let’s not fool ourselves.  The way we live is happier and more fulfilling than anyone has ever lived in the history of humanity.  I mean we just . . . I . . . I can . . . I can take a shower every morning.  It’s nice.  As much hot water as I want.  How dreamy is that, you know?  King Solomon, you know, would have . . . would have cut off his arm for such a luxury, you know?  And yet we can almost all do that.  So I . . . I . . . I do . . . We are . . .  Things are good, and they are getting better.  So I’m an optimist.  I take it back. 

Question: What will life look like in 30 years?

Transcript: I think it will be busier and more crowded.  I hope so, because the alternative is . . . means something horrible has happened.  I think we . . . we . . . we want busyness.  I think we need to . . . to reign ourselves in to a certain extent.  But you know as regards to our consumption and our population.  But that goes against everything that makes us human.  I’m not . . . I’m not quite sure if we’re gonna be able to make that fit.  And if . . . even if we do, I’ll be kind of sad that . . . that sort of the . . . that that part of . . . of human life is over.  But we’ll be . . . You know maybe it’ll . . . I hope maybe it’ll be like, you know, the Blade Runner world, or the studio screens everywhere, and ads.  We’re getting there. But I hope not.

Question: How will this age be remembered?

Transcript: I don’t know.  You . . . you think we’ll . . .  I . . . I hope, you know . . .  This isn’t the fall of Rome.  I hope it’s not the . . .  The historians aren’t going to say, “How could they have been so selfish, so self-serving?”  I suspect . . . I suspect we will be seen as selfish.  It’s . . .  We are so gluttonous in a way.  It doesn’t look good, especially, God forbid in a future era where people aren’t . . . can’t take showers every morning, you know?  And we’ll be seen as pigs.  But I hope not.  I hope we . . . we make it so that everyone can have a hot shower every morning, and a good breakfast, and a good school.  And then they’ll think of us as proud forebearers.  You know I  . . .  I . . .  We . . . I  . . . I don’t think they’re going to think of us like we think of the founding fathers of this country as sort of people who really put themselves on the line, and fought, and you know earned these rights, and you know, talked late in the night about big ideas.  They’re not gonna think of us like that.  You know, and it’s our fault.  We’re the . . . We’re the indulgent grand . . .  We’re the indulged grandchildren.

Recorded on: 9/4/07