For one, there's the fact we seem to be contaminated by pessimism but it's hard to find an intelligent explanation for it. The arguments are so bad that they include absurdities like our civilization being unable to overcome an actively manufactured political division.
Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?
121–130 of 221 posts
Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?
#122Why do you believe that the world of tomorrow will be better than the world of today? Because the world of today is mostly better than the world of the past. OK, sure, you can find (or manufacture) counter-points to that by being extremely selective in what you consider "the past", but on balance, technological and social/cultural advancement have made the world a better place. So there are some peaks and valleys in…
And for balance, here's my pessimistic take:
Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
> In the 70s there were racist shitheads, but they were pretty afraid to come out into the sunlight. Now they're just out in the open. I think I liked it better when they felt like they had to hide. Just out of curiosity, who are we talking about here? And are we sure it's not just because of more coverage? Lots of racist stuff that would have gone completely unnoticed in the 70s now makes national news.
There would be coverage of a KKK march through some town, for example, but it was always kind of a man-bites-dog kind of story. There'd be like 20 KKK'ers marching and hundreds of anit-KKK people on either side of the road. They were viewed as fringy.
Do you see in the news that these days KKK type orgs are marching around frequently and without massive opposition?
The last thing I can think of like that was Charlottesville 2017. That went pretty badly for the racists and AFAIK they failed to stage any meaningful follow-up.
Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?
#124I have a mostly Pinkerian view of the modern world, which is to say that by nearly all metrics, the world is better today than it has ever been, and is continuing to improve. Will we go through local minima while on the path towards absolute upward progress? Of course we will. Right now we might be in a local minimum. Maybe we haven't reached the bottom of the current local minimum yet. Maybe we won't reach it during…
You “by all metrics that are people centric”. If you look at the other 99.99999% of species, the world is exceptionally bleak. Mass death everywhere, total ecosystem collapse, etc.
I'm not denying climate change, but that's... a bit hyperbolic, with a bunch of silly absolutes. Mass death everywhere? Wildlife is thriving in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.[1] The world has been getting greener with more plant life because of the increased CO2 in the atmosphere.[2]
Total ecosystem collapse? Which ecosystem? Why? Again, I'm not denying any of the human impact to our climate, and I agree that many ecosystems will change, and it will be our fault, but I don't think it's productive or healthy to think of it with such bleakness.
[1] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/060418-ch... [2] https://phys.org/news/2020-01-planet-greener-global.html
Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?
#125>> What do you look forward to in the world of the future?
Medicine advances have been astounding, and I look forward to more. With respect to cancer and dementia-related diseases, we still have a long ways to go.
Politically related, I am not hopeful, as political perspectives are always changing and historically repeat the same mistakes. Sadly, war will still be a tool for delivering political power.
Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
There would be coverage of a KKK march through some town, for example, but it was always kind of a man-bites-dog kind of story. There'd be like 20 KKK'ers marching and hundreds of anit-KKK people on either side of the road. They were viewed as fringy.
Do you see in the news that these days KKK type orgs are marching around frequently and without massive opposition? The last thing I can think of like that was Charlottesville 2017. That went pretty badly for the racists and AFAIK they failed to stage any meaningful follow-up.
These things usually happened in small towns in the midwest or south back then, not in places like DC or other large cities as often happens now.
Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?
#127Just reverse the question, what makes you believe all these negatives are true?
You have some secret documents on R&D labs that you can say tech advancement stagnated?
You probably don't understand how big world really is, you probably don't understand how many different companies are there working on making stuff more efficient. All mobile phones looking the same for last 5 years is not "tech advancement stagnated".
There is also no single "world vision" and these "massive" geopolitical problems might be less of a problem then what media is presenting.
Deglobalisation and "less economic efficiency" seems like a good idea for me, first world people buying less crap built by exploited workforce from third world countries seems like a plus.
All that talk about "disconnecting" people for me is nonsense - people are connected more then ever I keep friends that I rarely see nowadays - but we are still good friends. Randos on the internet shouting at each other or teenagers playing MMOs instead of running in the woods is not convincing argument for me.
When I ride train - yes I read internet on my phone - yes I would never talk to strangers and never was even when I did not have internet on my phone, I would use Walkman to listen to tapes back when I was younger.
Problem with Walkman 20-25 years ago was that batteries were crap, headphones or earphones were crap and had cables that would break after month or two of using, nowadays I can listen music from my phone whole day and use earphones without any cables.
Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?
#128It's easier than ever to life more independent.
And I decided to do this soon due to my more pessimistic view.
We will be even more people in 30 years, weather changes but I'm able to stay connected through the internet and independent through my potential future farm.
Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?
#129People are resilient. We have survived much harder catastrophes, and managed to restore the civilization each time.
When has there ever been a period of time where humans have the capacity to destroy the planet? I’m not even talking about climate change but nuclear weapons. I think the likelihood of a nuclear exchange is extremely likely within the next hundred years. Especially as nations learn that once you’re a nuclear power you’re respected on the world stage. How do you honestly come back from this? I’m genuinely curious beca…
It is hard to destroy the planet even with nuclear weapons. A full-scale nuclear exchange will probably put humans back in the stone age, but the species will probably survive (billions will die, the life will be awful, of course, and it will take thousands of years for the civilization to recover, but humans will survive). With some deliberation, it is possible to destroy all complex land-based lifeforms (with radiation weapons / cobalt bombs, and you need _a lot_ of them, like a planet-scale suicidal project, I don’t think it is possible to organize), but even with that, I don’t see how it would be possible to destroy life in the oceans, at this point.
Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
The thing about the future is that it hasn’t happened yet, so we need to predict based on history. 1) Things that start in high-end luxury items eventually trickle down to the base models. 2) Always on mobile connectivity is getting cheaper and better. 3) It’s obvious to everyone that every companies goal is now to get all users on the hook for a recurring subscription. It really doesn’t take a genius to see how all…
Why is that horrible? The logical endpoint is that my car just charges me per use for what I use. No money down, no repair cost, no buying a new one. Just like flying: I buy a ticket, I’m done. I’m not maintaining a 737. Some might prefer that, and at any rate it’s not an example of OMG the world is going straight to hell.
Why should your car charge you in the first place? The fact that your "possessions" can drain your bank account already seems pretty dystopian to me.
It's ok if you don't want to own a car, and just want to drive it. Just stop calling it "your car" then.