I think everybody should be endlessly optimistic when they're younger - that innocence is the gift of youth. But at the same time I find it odd for somebody to hold such values later in life, because life experience teaches you otherwise in endless ways. My issue was nanotech - perhaps you're also familiar with names like K Eric Drexler et al? Nanotech was going to fix absolutely everything, cure all diseases, turn radioactive waste into arbitrary materials, and basically reshape humanity in every positive way imaginable. Except none of it came to pass, at all. Heh, or yeah the 90s view of what the internet would become.

In general find I the simulation hypothesis a much more desirable replacement for religion. It lacks the various logical flaws or assumptions or singularity types, has a pretty sound basis in reality, and also keeps the extrinsic 'better-be-good' factors of religion, given that the simulation could be for any reason - entertainment, education, or even something like rehabilitation or training. And I think that extrinsic pressure is generally good after seeing what societies without any sort of guiding light seem to trend towards - pseudo-nihilism paired with hedonism is not a path to a fulfilling existence, or perhaps even a sustainable civilization.