What gives you hope?
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Kids these days. They are nicer than when I was in school, and mine and their peers got much better education than I did (though that has declined again, there are like 20 consecutive years of kids who were better served by the school system that are just now young adults).
The rise of renewable energy marching on.
The drop in the birth rate. Not because I'm anti-natal, but because it seems like nature is working, that's a much gentler means of reducing population than most.
The fact that insect life cycles are so short. The insect apocalypse is to me the most dire and frightening thing happening, but if we can address it at least the rebound wouldn't take as long as with other creatures.
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Others ITT have already mentioned people as a source of hope. For me, this is something of a paradox, as I’m fairly misanthropic. I believe most people are—on balance—good or at least prosocial. They want to get along with others and not cause harm. However, I also think we’re inherently tribal and self-centered. Our capacity for empathy within our closest social circles is quite high, but outside of them it barely exists. We tend to make good choices when it comes to those we know, but beyond that we tend to be fairly apathetic and callous.
So, I am hopeful based on people’s desire to be good and make the world a better place for all. But our historical record demonstrates a failure pattern at scale that is anything but inspiring. Overall, I think we tend to hit at the middle of the road or slightly below it. I see the history of human civilization like a corkscrew: progress is made, but only very slowly and through many repetitions of past mistakes.
Ultimately, I don’t have much hope. Humans perform best in small groups; in large ones (10,000+ people) we splinter and start treating each other very poorly. We evolved to function in small groups of just a few families. When we settled down and started developing our civilization (only 15,000 years ago—no time for evolution to change us), we struck out into territory we were not prepared for. Human civilization is effectively an experiment, and I would argue it’s returned mixed results at best.
EDIT: I also think one of the chief problems with us as a species is that we are innately myopic. That is to say, we don’t truly recognize problems until they start to affect us directly. We had all the information we needed to predict the impacts of human-driven climate change in the 1950s, if not earlier. But people trying to draw attention to them were dismissed as alarmists. Only when we began truly witnessing the impacts around the turn of the century did we acknowledge the problem and start acting on it. I think the same will be true for AI, but much worse. We intellectually understand the threats that AI poses to our species, but won’t start acting on them until they actually start to take effect, and by that point, it will be too late.
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Knowing that my daughter is not experiencing brain rot by having social media. Also that she is not only school smart but daily life smart and not brain dead that needs help with everything in life.
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That this too, shall pass.
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Honestly? Nothing. Been here nearly 60 years, experienced lots of changes in that time and it all boils down to the same thing every time - money. The people that have it will do everything they can to keep it, including making sure people that don't suffer. As Flux Of Pink Indians said, all we can do is strive to survive, causing the least suffering possible.
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Others ITT have already mentioned people as a source of hope. For me, this is something of a paradox, as I’m fairly misanthropic. I believe most people are—on balance—good or at least prosocial. They want to get along with others and not cause harm. However, I also think we’re inherently tribal and self-centered. Our capacity for empathy within our closest social circles is quite high, but outside of them it barely exists. We tend to make good choices when it comes to those we know, but beyond that we tend to be fairly apathetic and callous.
So, I am hopeful based on people’s desire to be good and make the world a better place for all. But our historical record demonstrates a failure pattern at scale that is anything but inspiring. Overall, I think we tend to hit at the middle of the road or slightly below it. I see the history of human civilization like a corkscrew: progress is made, but only very slowly and through many repetitions of past mistakes.
Ultimately, I don’t have much hope. Humans perform best in small groups; in large ones (10,000+ people) we splinter and start treating each other very poorly. We evolved to function in small groups of just a few families. When we settled down and started developing our civilization (only 15,000 years ago—no time for evolution to change us), we struck out into territory we were not prepared for. Human civilization is effectively an experiment, and I would argue it’s returned mixed results at best.
EDIT: I also think one of the chief problems with us as a species is that we are innately myopic. That is to say, we don’t truly recognize problems until they start to affect us directly. We had all the information we needed to predict the impacts of human-driven climate change in the 1950s, if not earlier. But people trying to draw attention to them were dismissed as alarmists. Only when we began truly witnessing the impacts around the turn of the century did we acknowledge the problem and start acting on it. I think the same will be true for AI, but much worse. We intellectually understand the threats that AI poses to our species, but won’t start acting on them until they actually start to take effect, and by that point, it will be too late.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Mixed result = the best living conditions, longer life expectancy, and modern medicine.
Like it or not, if you were born in any other point in known history life would be exceptionally less pleasant.
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A nice full pint of lager.
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Honestly? Nothing. Been here nearly 60 years, experienced lots of changes in that time and it all boils down to the same thing every time - money. The people that have it will do everything they can to keep it, including making sure people that don't suffer. As Flux Of Pink Indians said, all we can do is strive to survive, causing the least suffering possible.
Yesss crass records!
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Protesting, volunteering, and finding other people who still have energy and hope that we can make something better.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think everything will suddenly get better but the more you do, the more you'll find little wins here and there, and those small wins make it feel worth it.
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Mixed result = the best living conditions, longer life expectancy, and modern medicine.
Like it or not, if you were born in any other point in known history life would be exceptionally less pleasant.
Yes, there are certainly good things to come of it, I never denied that. But we’re also the cause of the latest mass extinction event on the planet, so there’s that too. I’d call that “mixed results at best.”
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My kids. Even if we can’t fix the mess the world is currently in, they can
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There are people who are actively protesting against hatred, against xenophobia, against racism, against LGBT-phobia, I live in a city that overwhelmingly voted against trump.
I don't exactly talk to neighbors, honestly I have fear about strangers (dealing with depression and possible PTSD after a shitty police encounter), but at least I don't have to worry about nazis that much. (There are still racists around here, but at least there is no lynch mobs)
I really felt moved by the anti-police-brutality protests after George Floyd was brutally murdered by some piece of shit cop. I was a victim of unjustified, and, in my view, an illegal arrest (but courts would see it as legal), and it was practically psychological torture. The fact that the entire nation protested against police brutality really brings me hope. I know that the fight is far from over, but I know that we the people have the spirit, we just need that spirit reignited. Perhaps, one day, the tyrants of the world would be defeated. Its gonna be an uphill battle, but I have hope, I have to. Otherwise I would lose my will to live. And I'm not ready to die yet. Its a rare roll of dice for me to even exist, I can't give up just yet. I yearn for the day that I see the downfall of tyrants.
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when I wake up early enough and my stool is soft enough that I can actually take a shit.
