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

Damn, and I was just getting the hang of this time on my hands routine. So here it is at last, the Year Two bloody thousand- still no robot to make me a sandwich or beat me at chess, no flying car waiting on the roof, commercial space travel still 20 or 30 years away, no aliens here to save the world, and all of our old problems still around...granted, alot of us have some groovy toys to play with, but there are still too many people out there who are poor and hungry and uneducated- kind of steals a bit of the fun, knowing that only a select few planet wide are allowed to play, and the rest are scrounging for food or trying not to get blown up...
Ever since I was a kid, 'experts' have been making predictions starting with the words 'by the year 2000...' Okay, so here we are, the movie Blade Runner has become more real all the time, there really do seem to be replicants out there... but weren't we supposed to have gotten rid of war and starvation and poverty by now? Britain has made some positive steps, abolishing billions in debts owed to her by some of the worlds poorer countries- quite possibly the only democracy that still shows signs of a conscience- and too, most countries (except of course the good ol' US of bloodthirsty A) have banned land mines...
I'm not saying that progress hasn't been made- I just think we are a bit behind schedule here.
Personally, I'll wait for my flying car and my plastic pal thats fun to be with, to see a few improvements in more important departments.