I am wildly optimistic about the long-run future of humanity.Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte and Charlemagne used to rule the world. They sat on their thrones for years as the undisputed masters of their domain with the wealth to buy anything and the power to control any man. And they would have given anything for a chance to be me.These kings among kings could afford to pay musicians for live performances. Bards and minstrels could treat them to the finest songs available.I have a device that can — for all intents and purposes — magically play thousands of tunes, and I can add any song I want for 10 minutes’ wages.And that’s just in my right pocket. In my left pocket, I have another magical device that lets me communicate with anyone on the face of the Earth. When victorious generals at Marathon wanted to send a text to Athens, they had to kill a man in the process, and they sent 156 less characters than I can.According to myth, Agamemnon killed his daughter so favorable winds would carry his forces to the Trojan War’s decade-long slaughter. Last year, the Chinese government used silver iodide to regulate the rain so it wouldn’t fall on the Olympic Games. Magic is real, and it’s called chemistry.I can fly over oceans on a fixed wing of steel. I can fight off infections with the power of antibiotics. I spent $20 on an alarm clock that sets itself by communicating with a satellite. It is better to serve in the present than to rule in the hell that was the past.The world is constantly getting better because scientists and rational thinkers are pushing technology through its exponential growth. I can’t wait to find out what the future will be like.A hundred years from now if scientists have created fusion reactors, doctors have mastered the human genome and some bold entrepreneur has created a Facebook without Farmville, our descendents will look back at us with the same condescending pity with which you regard the medicine man from the Dark Ages clumsily trying to find an herb that will slow the Bubonic Plague.There will certainly be challenges. The present government’s $10 trillion debt will be a drain on our future economy, and irrational beliefs will persist. I suspect we’ll still have horoscopes in the newspaper. But we will face these challenges with new tools like quantum computing and nanotechnology.Technological advances will bring with them increased prosperity. With poverty on the decline, the desperate fanaticism of wahabiism will fade much like the Crusade-fueled Christian fundamentalism of ages past.If trends continue, barriers to international trade will fall, and the entire world will be united in the expanding free market. War will still be a threat, but the civilization-destroying conflicts that swiftly snuff out tens of millions of souls will become nothing more than a traumatic memory. If China attacked us now, they would be assaulting their No. 1 customer and debilitating their No. 1 debtor.International trade will not only continue to enrich us all but also bring us together in the creative challenge of free enterprise.A hundred years from now, the world will look different. This is a good thing.The past is dead. Long live the future.Daniel Morgan is a 21-year-old economics senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on twitter @TDR_dmorgan.____Contact Daniel Morgan at [email protected]