Just because you are working for a long term (technological, scientistic) goal doesn't mean you are above the many different perspectives of the rest of the world.
Some of those perspectives may be even longer-term than yours, and may be skeptical of promised future technological solutions to problems exacerbated by the technology we already have.
What marknutter is highlighting is the need for a broader perspective. Many of these problems have been with us since the beginning of human history, and the only tools we need have always been within reach: human intelligence and effort. What is lacking is the moral and political will to solve them.
It's not the tools we lack, it's responsibility in using the tools we already have.