Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?

To expand on this, it's the capitalization of every aspect of human existence. I simply want less capitalization in my life. There is essentially no way out - either I can submit to subscriptions or I can pay a premium to opt out. There are no alternatives. I don't want to go live in the woods. I just want to live without the constant barrage of the micro-threats disguised as micro-transactions. It has become all consuming.

I thought we would have some control over how the world turned out, but no, if there is an opportunity to extract money, I'll be forever at the losing end of that equation. I want to opt out in a system that provides no means to do so.

I wish there was a way to identify and protest the product managers in charge of making these decisions. Hell, I'd pay to subscribe to that service.

My own optimism.

I try not to let the situation, setbacks or fleeting emotions affect that.

Hm, for me, fighting climate change is something I'm starting to look vaguely optimistic about.

Some people are very defeatist there - china is just going to pollute more for every reduction so nothing matters and similar arguments. And yes, germany has messed up a lot by exiting nuclear power before exiting coal, but the nuclear train over here is gone. And yes, it's going to be hard, and we'll probably miss the marks and all our lives will change with it.

But on the other hand, looking around in Germany and Hamburg, there's lots of projects starting, progressing or even maturing aiming at reducing the use of fossil fuels. It starts to feel like a lot of systems are starting to slowly start moving.

For example, our local district heating provider is hard at work getting local industries hooked up to re-use their heat, we might see our first geothermal heat plant this year or next year (and it didn't take that long to work), they have concrete plans to replace their last coal-powered heater with several new green systems including one I have to read up on - some station to extract heat from the Elbe herself. Other plants are designed with green hydrogen in mind.

German car manufacturers are finally starting to apply their experience to electric vehicles. The local public transport is trialing electric busses. Recently there was a post on reddit of someone electrifying an asphalt laying machine. The city is funding a project to support EV charging ports in underground garages, which is supposed to dump the surplus of solar and wind power into electric cars when we have it and to throttle the charging of EVs past a certain level if we don't have surplus power.

We're also seeing different prototypes for large-scale power storage being built and going online. Are they all going to work? I don't think so. Are they the solutions we will use in 5 - 10 years? I also don't think so. But the best way to quickly get two good ideas is to try a dozen bad ideas and toss most of them when they fail.

Also interesting, a lot of different new, and established companies are starting to experiment more and more by diversifying their goods with vegetarian alternatives, or entirely new vegetarian ideas. And sure, it would have a bigger impact if half the world crashed straight into veganism, but that won't happen. And then I'd be happier if campaigns and goods like this gradually reduce the overall meat consumption.

I don't know if we can steer the crazy planet heating and climate back into a safe situation. Probably not. But it starts to feel like a lot of systems especially in Europe are starting to engage the problem at many levels. And that's a lot of scientific and engineering minds suddenly looking at the practical problems and doing something about it.

There are ideas and projects aiming to go straight from fusion to electricity, maybe through photoelectric effect but without the water heat cycle. Those may be orders of magnitude harder than "normal fusion" but still - people work on that.

There is Mean World Syndrome[0] which can occur when you're constantly exposed to the news, and social media just exacerbates it, and feeds off our fear-based response. Just limit yourself to it, and there are even news sites that talk about all the positive things happening in the world, so read them instead. Technology is being abused, yes, but it has incredible potential if used right, and we need to teach people how to approach technology, not just leave them vulnerable and exposed. The Internet is this enormous rabbithole to get lost in, and we have to train people to navigate it, and be skeptical of all the disinformation and scams out there. Even savvy people get hacked and scammed, because they think they're invulnerable to various attacks. Education is key here.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_world_syndrome