That's something I've wondered about for a while now.   As in I wonder if there is truth to the hippy New-Agey view that "Gaiia" or Mother Earth is trying to shake most of us off to put things back in balance -- somewhere where evolutionary science and woo intersect that all these politically correct science writers fear to go, at least in published works, but they do hint at it.  Also makes me think of the late great George Carlin's view about what's going on.