https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyECrGp-Sw8 This is a link to nuclear weapons and how we can eradicate life 10x over (or more), but I would really like to know why we have great lives and yet carry this scenario (and also mass shootings and just rising suicide rates) into the future. Aren't things supposed to be getting better?
Mutually Assured Destruction.
It may fail horrifically in the future, but so far, it's been a big contributing factor in one of the longest stretches of peace on the planet (peace in a relative sense, of course).
If you're interested in this sort of thing, you may want to read Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now. Hint: Things are in fact getting better. The impression that they aren't is essentially attributable to changes in media.