h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hooray, a chance for some optimism
What would we live like given the choice ?

Im looking forward to my nice geothermally heated swimming pool under glass (which vanishes or darkens at the flick of a switch) surrounded by tropical fruit trees. Serving robot bringing me my pan-galactic gargle blaster, swimming out to meet me on my lilo..

I would still want to cook, and I dont think a kitchen could be much different - somehow generally the design of houses hasn't really changed dramatically for thousands of years, except that they now have more windows. (And quite likely more fun things in the bedroom).

Of course, the need to work has been replaced with the need to manage the estate (after the population fall there is space for everyone), but this mostly involves checking that the robots are working properly. Course I could go and chop wood if I wanted to, for the fun of it..

Roads are also difficult to improve on. If safety regulations havent phased out private transport, it will all run on locally produced hydrogen. 'Course people will be a bit more worried about safety when they can all expect a healthy life 'till 150. Just worrying about weather I would have a motorbike. I suppose an alarm would go off in case of accidents, and within a few minutes you could have had an arm re-attached for example. Wouldn't want to test it though..

Ok. Lots of species died out. But we have now invented a whole load of new and more amusing and entertaining ones to fill the gaps they left. I watch out of the window to see a small heard of brightly coloured deer playing leap-frog on the lawn, while a two-foot wide butterfly with fractal wings eats by the bird bath.

Why is everybody so bleeding miserable
Does noone comment on an optimistic note

Because we know we're doomed to work lives cleaning out voogon toilets for the rest of our lives.
Only kidding, I can't wait to go to beetlejuice!