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Ask HN: What currently makes you optimistic?

13 points by alltakendamned ↗ HN
We're currently surrounded by pessimistic news, from political and economical instability in the world, polarisation and the rise of extremism through climate change and raising inequality.

Despite all this, what are currently the things you experience, participate in or know of that keeps you feeling optimistic ?

12 comments

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agiri
Steven Pinker's book Enlightenment Now
burfog
Pessimistic news is to keep your eyeballs glued to the screen. It's also an attempt to force a political outcome by manipulating you. Ignore it. Step away. Life is actually quite good now.

Instability isn't always bad. It's how we put aside feudalism.

Climate change could make the Northwest Passage viable and open up a lot of valuable land.

Inequality has been going down. This is generally true around the world, and has been for decades. More recently, it is true within the USA: http://archive.is/lRxSi

cylinder
You state inequality goes down then you show a link about wage increases the last two years. This doesn't address inequality and inequality is usually a wealth issue, not income, and not only over the last two years.
burfog
Usually we vaguely mean both wealth and income when we speak of inequality, but in any case they are convertible. The high-wealth people aren't living on income. They are living on investments, which have taken a hit from the increased wages.

I specifically said "More recently" regarding the USA, so why object to it being over two years? Two years is recent. Things have gotten dramatically better for the less-well-off people over the past two years. This is something to be optimistic about.

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yesenadam
We're currently surrounded by pessimistic news

There's your problem. It is a choice---to be a sucker for the fear endlessly pumped out by most of the news media, or to be tuned into better things.

[dead] autisticmind
This site makes me optimistic. I see many people here want to do good things. This pessimism is a reaction of...differnt things. If there would be no reason to be pessimistic, so why should people be it? Why should media write it? And right, it is a choice to look at smal/big/personal/political/international and/or global problems. Or to keep your self safe in your pink dream bubble. Everyone has a choice. But tell this to children who had to flee and are hungry. Maybe sometimes its better to search for the root of the problems. When i did it, i often came to this conclusion: Some very rich, mighty and shameless people with unimaginable possibilities, live in their own bubble. So i decided to disturb their bubble in diffent ways. Like this. What makes me optimistic? That everyones bubble will make poof, and will be gone. And maybe that it will be enough time to do usefull things with their money. Because we all live under the same sky. But even thy sky is comercialised in so many diffrent ways, people will be suprised if the would know, in how many diffrent ways. Many people want get tuned in better things. Mostly the one, the media is writing of. And thats everybodys chance. Media and sites like HN, can connect so many different people and thoughts togheter. Visions and ideas, worldwide! I dont know a better site with more expirienced and minded people like here are. So many interessting views and articles of individuals who want to make the world a better place. Peoples who know the systems better than others. Cause they wrote the code. I see our media acting, i see why and how. Also i see HN. here. And i think i realy exist, so i see my world and the changes around me. Also i see the world as a whole, with her own universal code. A code a human never will be able to programm it on a machine.

But in the end youre right. Often it only needs to change the own view on/at something, to know hw to act.

Japhy_Ryder
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. I think it will be revealed to be one of the most important books of our time.
pixelperfect
I recently read David Deutsch's book Beginning of Infinity, and it drastically increased my level of optimism. Summarizing it wouldn't do it justice, but I highly recommend reading it.
sethammons
I'm reminded of a couple of things.

"You don't hire people and motivate them, you hire motivated people" -- Peter Drucker

"You choose to be happy" -- a bunch of old people

The first quote applies to extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. And I think it also can relate to optimism and pessimism. If you are looking for extrinsic sources to make you optimistic, then it will be fleeting. Find the optimism and the belief that the future can be better than the now in yourself.

The second quote, I don't recall where I read it. But the tl;dr was that someone went around and asked a bunch of old folks the secret to being happy. The majority response? You choose it. It explains why you can find happy people in poverty or miserable people bathed in riches. I think the same applies to feeling optimistic: it is a choice.

Knowing that I can be happier than I am now (even though I consider myself doing pretty good in that department) gives me reason to be optimistic and to strive for that. There are things I want to see and experience. There is more to life than I have yet to experience. I also know that my world could come crashing down; but I've been low before, and I can do it again, and again, seek being better than I might find myself.

All the things that news that you find yourself surrounded by: One, know that it is _designed_ to rope you in and invoke a negative reaction. Two, can you do something about it? If so, and it is meaningful to you, then do your part to improve it. If not, then don't. No need to have the world pull you down. Besides, there is always political/economic instability, polarization, and extremism. Climate change might doom us all; it might not. World poverty is diminishing and standards of living are leaping higher every generation. I think Stephen Fry did a neat little video a while back (can't find it) that showed the different countries of the world and their economic condition over the last couple hundred years: it all got better.

There will always be negative things. Sadness, loss, disparity, suffering, and outright evil. People have endured it, survived, and continue to lead happy lives. I think that is amazing, and helps me be optimistic.