Human nature
Interesting thing with us humans is that we seem to have a complete lack of ability to plan long term. It can be seen in individual behavior as well as in group behavior. Even if a person knows long ahead of time that something must be done, they will not do it until it absolutely must be done.

This can be seen in things like our approach to global warming, pollution, and government to name a few things. We know there are problems, but as long as they're tolerable we will not lift a finger to fix them, the only time people are willing to do anything is when things become intolerable.

An example is a government becomes oppressive. The people will refuse to rise up against it as long as they have something to lose. That however would be the best time for a change, instead people are willing to wait till they have nothing left and a revolution happens.

So are we as a species doomed by our short sighted nature, it's not that we cannot see the problems, it's just that we do not address them at the right time due to complacency, does this mean that eventually will misjudge a problem on a large scale and by the time we are pressed to face it the time for action will have passed?