I obviously have none, so I’d like to see if I can mooch off of you lol.
Please don’t leave any pessimistic top level comments. Or do, I’m not your mom 🤷♂️.
Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street There are plenty of street cats where I live
Even the broken clock that is Jordan Peterson can be right every once in a blue moon
The idea that the people wrecking the world are playing 5d chess and only pretending to be delusional idiots becomes less believable by the day. Things may get worse, but their plans are going to blow up in their faces, because they don’t contend with reality and that makes for bad plans.
Generally speaking, the world just keeps getting better in ways that matter.
Despite all the wars going on, this is probably the most peaceful time in human history; we just see every single conflict thanks to modern telecommunication.
There has always been terrible stuff going on in the world. Very little of the terrible things in the modern day are really new, it’s just a new form. And usually the new form is a bit friendlier than the last one.
Frankly, how bad the past was makes it hard to be anything but optimistic about the future. Overall, the best time to be alive in all of history is right now. There’s no reason to think that trend won’t continue.
We’ll defeat diseases, and get more efficient at producing the things we need, and develop technologies to solve problems. Sure, a lot of that will be expensive for a while if capitalism persists, but going into debt for cancer treatment beats dying of cancer.
And it’s never been easier to coordinate with such a huge number of people. We have the tools at our disposal to actively make the future better. We have to use them, but we do have them. And it really seems like people are starting to get interested in using those tools, and they’re only getting easier to use, which means with a little elbow grease we could progress from “better, year over year” to “actually good”.
The boomers are dying, the techbro bubble is almost ready to pop, the kids are organizing. I feel privileged to get to witness the next 50 years.
Every time I see someone saying something along the lines of “the world/country/city is becoming more dangerous” I want to scream. No it isn’t, you just didn’t see all that was happening back then, and now you do.
Plus AI inflated headlines and other fear mongering.
Lula!
Antidepressants
Seriously, when you’re depressed to the point of self unaliving ideation it’s inconceivable to be optimistic. But when you’re not depressed it’s hard even to imagine the level of misery depressed person is going through. All of this to say, hopelessness and despair isn’t normal – even in modern times.
A lot of people I know is on antidepressants or used to be at some point. Talk to random acquaintances about potential psychiatrist visit and some of them could actually get you some leftover drugs for free. Sometimes taking just one week course is enough to feel that it’s working.
There’s one thing that’s happened this year that inspired actual hope in me. (I am generally a cynic, having read too many history books.)
I made a video about Flock buying out their employees and, in researching it, learned that Flock (as of a month ago) had lost nearly 400 contracts in 36 states. An independent outfit is tracking it because, obviously, major media outlets don’t want to talk about the unpopularity of fascism.
Thing is, this accelerated last summer, which means a lot of people who are otherwise apolitical are learning about Flock, going to city council meetings and doing boring, pedestrian and effective political organizing for a good cause.
That is objectively a good thing.
The bullshit with Putin and Ukraine as well as Trump and Iran is heavily incentivizing the adoption of EVs.
Scientists are steadily progressing on biologically deaging human cells, so if I manage to keep myself alive for the next fifty years (and win the lottery), chances are I will reach the 100’s: sciencedaily.com/releases/2026…
Getting some historical perspective is amazing. We live in one of the best times on earth, possibly the best ever. Most people just don’t realise it because we don’t have the lifespan to experience the difference ourselves.
I am surprisingly hard to destroy.
I hope it’s quick and painless.
Someday I’ll be dead, and therefore not suffering.
Dark Optimism. Set the bar low, and there’s less risk of disappointment!
two things
- one day he’ll die
- one day I’ll die
that’s about it.
An optimist and pessimist are in a horrible situation. The pessimist says, “this can’t possibly get any worse”. And the optimist replies, “oh yes it can!”
