Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 221 posts

Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?

#171

Post by gumby »

MrMan wrote: post #98
civilized wrote: post #91

Earlier 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.

militias marching heavily armed in the streets? marching in military formation up the capitol steps?

You forget the bombings and assassinations of the 60s and 70s. Nowadays even racists don’t like being called racist. The majority of the population at least want to be more accepting of people not like themselves (even though execution of this attitude is still pretty poor). As I say, the derivative is positive.

Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?

#172

Post by bryanlarsen »

dane-pgp wrote: post #153
bryanlarsen wrote: post #28

Cheap green energy. We've just had a stark lesson on how important the price of energy is to our economy. In the future, the opposite is going to happen. The price of solar power has been dropping about 80% per decade for the last 50 years or so, and it looks like that is going to continue for the rest of this decade at least. It hasn't had a significant impact yet because solar has been more expensive than alternati…

> Energy is a major direct and indirect input into the price of pretty much everything. The other major factor, of course, being land. While I don't expect many major economies to implement a Land Value Tax in the near term, to balance out these costs more fairly among citizens and corporations, it's worth noting that we are about to see peak population being reached in China [2025] and the EU [2026], which may have…

Land is a very minor component of the price of anything. In much of the country you can buy a square mile for a few million.

Labor is the other big component.

Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?

#173

Post by _y5hn »

dmitrybrant wrote: post #124
david38 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ec…

The greening of the planet isn't indicative of health. When water shortages and lack of snow melting dries up rivers, the land changes. Warming and acidification of the oceans hits offshore too. This is expected to be noticeable from the 2030's.

Ecology needs a balance. Life overall is pretty resilient, but the changes are faster and more impactful than over millions of years.

It's not like we take notice how much destruction humans do, but interesting any rationale is used to justify it, rather than address root causes.

Not against optimism, just that these temporary effects obscures what's really happening.

Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?

#174

Post by jamal-kumar »

2-718-281-828 wrote: post #152
jamal-kumar wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I kind of like the idea of being killed by a lion over dying from a nuclear holocaust. Like a real man. I've been telling people this for like over a decade and they don't think I'm joking, there is a hint of seriousness to this though. I mean these are all things that killed a relatively lower amount of people, stuff we could bounce back from and adapt to basically - it wasn't like the prospect of any of th…

how is being killed by a lion manly?

Oh that part is just a dumb joke. It's just thinking in the broader picture, people have been getting eaten by wild cats for thousands of years. We can continue doing that sustainably for another unit in the thousands of years. But if things start getting nuked? At BEST you happen to be in the far reaches of the Patagonia or maybe New Zealand, and even then the fallout may cause agonizing death.

At least if you get in a fight with a huge cat you have a chance of killing it with your bare hands [1]

[1] https://youtu.be/vXr_1KqZtAY

Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?

#175

Post by jamal-kumar »

ano88888 wrote: post #168
jamal-kumar wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I kind of like the idea of being killed by a lion over dying from a nuclear holocaust. Like a real man. I've been telling people this for like over a decade and they don't think I'm joking, there is a hint of seriousness to this though. I mean these are all things that killed a relatively lower amount of people, stuff we could bounce back from and adapt to basically - it wasn't like the prospect of any of th…

Eaten by a lion can be a slow and painful death. It will be worse if they decide to play with you a bit before eating you alive. You will get bitten bite by bite with blood flowing out slowly. It is incredibly cruel process and can take hours if you're unlucky. It is hard to regard it as 'manly'. I will pick nuclear blast any day as I will be gone in less than a second.

Alot of us don't live in nuke target zones and will just die slowly of the collapse of civilization, nuclear winter, fallout etc anyways and it won't be due to our horrible decisions.

Gimme the cat. I'll take agonizing hours over days.

Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?

#176

Post by _y5hn »

gpt5 wrote: post #108
jamal-kumar wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm extraordinarily pessimistic about North America in general and think the future probably belongs to the rest of the world. I have spent most of the past decade away from that continent, and my optimistic prospects have shot way up as a result, but I look back at that region and just balk worse every time. Visiting back to the place and it's just toxic bullshit everywhere, I even got punched in the head over a jar…

> Visiting back to the place and it's just toxic bullshit everywhere > a giant portion of the population being horrible people If everyone you meet is a jerk, maybe it's time to look in the mirror.

Not applicable to USA, where now 50% of population are verified Flying Monkeys.

Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?

#177

Post by _y5hn »

daenz wrote: post #145
tremon wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, resignation is a perfectly healthy mental strategy to cope with things that are out of your control.

In what universe is being happy about the prospect of human extinction considered "perfectly healthy" ?

Rejection is a healthy response to a toxic culture.

Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?

#179

Post by onion2k »

throwaway743 wrote: post #104
onion2k wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sex robots to look like your favorite celebrity On the face of it that sounds like "wahey, sexy fun!", but if you consider it for a second you're actually suggesting a life without a real relationship with another person which is beyond depressing. If that tech becomes mainstream humanity has a major problem.

I see what youre saying, but then again, think of those who are unfortunately disabled, maimed, disfigured, socially inept, etc who have never/may never have a fair shot at a relationship. For them, sex robots/robotic companions could be a fantastic thing given that theyd accept them unconditionally. It could have the ability to fill an emotional and/or physical void for them.

think of those who are unfortunately disabled, maimed, disfigured, socially inept, etc who have never/may never have a fair shot at a relationship

None of those things stop people having relationships.

Re: Ask HN: What makes you optimistic about the future?

#180

Post by farseer »

smm11 wrote: post #25

I'm 55, but believe than before I am gone, the following will be true: Daily flights from earth to nearby planets. 99 percent of all diseases cured (other than hourly Covid variants). Universal Income for nearly all. Limitless energy.

That is way more optimistic than most people, though I should say that if 99 percent of all diseases that are cured include ageing then maybe.
Post reply on HN