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 🤷♂️.
We’re glad that we haven’t or will we discover any secret that leads to immortality. Sure, we may find ways to extend our lives, but we are all destined to die. That means, taking the horrible people as well.
If Twitch plays pokémon managed to beat the game then we can do this too, man
Thanks for the fresh wind OP and commenters, we need that from time to time.
I think AI will either destroy us all or, here is the optimism, save us all.
If you ask an LLM for a 10 steps plan to save the world, it will give you the more leftist program you cam think of, with practical solutions to a lot of our problem. If use in a good way, AI as the potential to cure diseases, fix environmental problems, optimize production, etc.
The problem is not AI itself, the problem is AI when combined with capitalism. That’s why wr need to appropriate AI and can’t be passive avout it, to fight back.
History.
No really looking at all the crazy stuff that happened in the past, you realize these aren’t unprecedented times, at least as far as tragedy goes, but the truly unprecedented part is how much less shitty things are in comparison. Not even with technology but with social progress.
It doesn’t feel like it but when you think that within the lifetime of people alive we had segregated bathrooms and pools and that seems insane now, that’s at least some hope.
All of this push for global fascism and tightening of chains across the world is actually an extinction burst that’s happening precisely because the world is waking up. The oligarchs see one last chance to hold onto power before the common people flip the board.
Yeah, we only read about right-wing successes but let’s not forget that the lefts all over the world are getting stronger every day, every election.
So many elections show that the majority of people don’t want to be ruled by fascists.
I agree. There’s a dialectical link between the rising of the new and the violence of the old in resisting that.
Exactly, I wonder how hopeless people felt in 1940’s europe
At the end? Very hopeful. Communism was surging in popularity around the world, hence the string of revolutions, thanks to the Red Army’s success in defeating the Nazis. It took drastic measures to overturn this.
True, everything good in both countries I’m a national of is called “post-war” lol. I was thinking of before the war though, trying to make the point we’re at the same place in history.
I know what you were getting at, haha. Just wanted to point out how quickly attitudes changed.
God I hope this is true
I hope this is true! Tired of spending every election day waiting for the .2% of voters to decide if we’re gonna keep healthcare or perform a blood sacrifice of the poors.
Perspective. We live in one of the best times in human history. The comforts and advantages we enjoy, 99.9 percent of humans could only dream about. Electricity, running water, modern transportation, indoor plumbing, three meals a day, and modern medicine are unimaginable luxuries for them.
Sure if you’re in the top 10%
To be in the top 10 percent worldwide, you have to earn more than 31,500 USD per year. Name a year before 1950 you would prefer to be an average world citizen.
One day trump will be dead.
There are so many good things that are happening.
I realise that humanity seems to be on the brink of some truly terrible changes. But you have to cast a wider view than what is broadcast.
Most of the good things are happening all the time in so many places, but simple good works don’t generate clicks and engagement.
A huge part of the good in the world is coming through kids; we are teaching them to care for each other and the planet. It is working, there is pushback in some sections of society, there is serious backsliding in some countries. But overall we are moving forward toward a fairer and cleaner world.
I’m a techno-optimist, I think humanity has the capability to solve any challenge before us. It would be nice if we didn’t need a crisis to spur the change we need; but we solve problems…that is what we do.
The old ways die slowly; the victories are hard won sometimes, but they are won. Even Trump, as much as I hate all the terrible things he is doing; seems to be the last gasp of a failed philosophy. They won’t let go without a fight, but there are far more of us than there are of them.
Sorry this was the most depressing thing to read.
Maybe I missed it but all I could read was. Oh children are nice and for the future there will be technologies.
Nothing in what you mention is optimistic it’s just the problems are solved somehow.
Clean water and more resistant crops are technologies too, that makes life better for millions of people. We just figured out how to make vector-vaccines last for months in room temp (which make them possible to transfer in countries with less cooling equipment) and we were able to reduce price of solar cell compounds from 188usd/gram to 2usd/gram, both these things in the past weeks. As a humanist, these sort of things makes me incredibly happy. There’s tons of examples like this.
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yup thats around the time the new GTA is coming out, we all have a lot hope and invested attention in that
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My kids absolutely love life and are majorly excited about everything.
All of this will pass. You won’t necessarily be able to control any of the variables outside of your own life, but living a virtuous life isn’t about becoming the leader of a country or amassing gigantic wealth. It’s about doing the right thing, for yourself and others, when it’s time to make decisions. I take solace in that. I may not always make the perfectly right decision, but as long as I’m generally guided by what’s right, especially when it’s a difficult path to take, I will have lived a good life.
Even: you are living a good life.
Cheers.
Beautiful answer. Most of us don’t have the reach to make a difference on a global or national level, but we can make an impact on the those closest to us and set a good example.
It gives me hope when I see people doing altruistic things. I still see it in my community even though people seem more disconnected and pessimistic than before. You can find it here on the Fediverse too; users offering to help when someone makes a post about being in distress, lots of tech-savvy users who either work on projects for the common good or are willing to support those who do.
Reminds me of a quote from Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson.
Tap for spoiler
It will,” Wit said, “but then it will get better. Then it will get worse again. Then better. This is life, and I will not lie by saying every day will be sunshine. But there will be sunshine again, and that is a very different thing to say. That is truth. I promise you, Kaladin: You will be warm again.
Alternative Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers quote.
Tap for spoiler
FRODO: I can’t do this, Sam.
SAM: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.\
FRODO: What are we holding on to, Sam?\
SAM: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.
Marcus Aurelius was the man.
I read Meditations and other Stoic texts pretty regularly. They have guided many of my beliefs.
🖤
Ty
I think Gen X and younger are, overall, better at dealing with emotional issues than their parents and grandparents. Granted, there’s definitely still room for improvement.
But it’s no longer considered socially acceptable (much less preferable) to use your kids as a piñata to vent your anger on instead of seeking therapy. It’s also far more common for parents to show physical and verbal affection toward their kids. Something my (boomer) parents virtually never did. Probably because that’s the dynamic they were taught.
I dont have any firm evidence to back this claim up, but conversations with parents that are relatively close to me in age has shown that I’m not the only one who has observed this trend.
I can vouch for my kids being way better than I was. They’re amazing. I broke that motherfucking cycle of religion and abuse.
For me, it’s the simple fact that almost every person you interact with is good. Yeah, in groups we can be horrible, but individuals will almost always help other people regardless of who they are. It’s only when you make someone an anonymous “other” that they are cruel.
This maybe isn’t super optimistic, because of how easy it is to create that “other”, but it’s something.
I have a beautiful girlfriend which I plan to marry. Whatever happens I know atleast she will be with me.
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.
