Everything is amazing
With so much negativity circulating, I wrote about Chaos, Order, and Optimism.
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With so much negativity circulating, I wrote about Chaos, Order, and Optimism.
A good book for this is "The Rational Optimist" by Matt Ridley.
When you say "with so much negativity circulating", I think it's important to remember that the whole BUSINESS MODEL of news organization is negativity. And at this point they've created a self-fulfilling prophecy; people who like consuming negative news watch news in general; people who don't want negativity have just given up on news.
Go outside and look around you. Where do you see this negativity? It's all online and propagated mostly by media which is getting paid to be negative.
I completely agree. Social media contributes to this by promoting extreme opinions.
This is an exceptionally good point. I personally limit my intake of news for the very reason you are describing.
I would say that 'negativity' in the news might be labeled "sensationalist fear-mongering" since the primary emotions it is intended to evoke are outrage and fear.
Perhaps an equally significant issue is that the news is a really, really bad place to actually learn about things. Everything is treated on such a shallow level (they've only got two minutes or ten paragraphs to describe the entire war/pandemic/recession/whatever) that you can read or watch coverage of an issue repeatedly and still not grasp many of the significant details of the situation. And you can forget about getting any sort of broader historical context for the issue, which is ALWAYS relevant.
And, of course, there's the fact that some news organizations function as propaganda machines for a certain demographic...
I really liked this post man, seriously
Thanks man 🙂
This is something that's worth reflecting on every single day (I do). Your life is more luxurious than the life of any ruler of any people at any time in the history of world. Hot showers, soft beds, clean clothes, air conditioning and heating, plentiful food... and your son-in-law probably won't murder you in order to claim your throne!
The world continues to be a scary place in many ways, but it's worthwhile to read history and get a clearer understanding of how ridiculously scary it was in the past. (If you're looking for a standout history book that's little known, check out The Frontiersmen by Allan Eckert.)
@Lenny Thanks for the read, I always appreciate a calming perspective.
And yet, “The AAP is urging clinicians to screen all adolescents for suicide risk” as of April, 2022. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in kids. Yes, the world may be safer than it’s been. And more people have electricity and access to temperature control. But I’m not fooled by the Western world’s assumption that macro-economic statistics, such as GDP, provide a sufficiently detailed picture of people’s actual wellbeing.
After living in a developing country for five years and having spent several years traveling through developing countries, it seems obvious to me that people who had very little of material value (and no temperature control) seemed to be very happy and abundant in things like community and spiritual health. And, It’s well documented that many hunter gatherer communities report extremely high rates of satisfaction in their lives. And some (like the Hazda) don’t even have words for depression and anxiety.
Not to be a downer, lol. I appreciated Lenny's perspective too. It's just that...maybe things feel bleak because we're headed in the wrong direction.
I think that once the "more developed" countries solved (mostly) the problem of hunger, infant death, racism, homophobia, slavery, and genocide, we moved up the Maslow Pyramid and started facing different kinds of problems. Children don't have to work in factories to survive, so they start thinking about the world and their place in it, and yes, sometimes it can cause depression and suicide (versus death from bad work conditions in the above factory 100+ years ago).
I don't know about hunters-gatherers, but don't tell me people were happier in the medieval era with 100-year wars and total disrespect for human dignity and life.
As someone who's dealt with suicidality for many, many years, and who has a family in which this type of conscious experience runs, I completely respect your point. At the same time that so much is better, we are clearly doing something fundamentally wrong to create a milieu in which so many people - and especially children! - are deeply depressed or suicidal. To me, figuring out what's happening to the hearts and minds our people to drive them to suicidality should be a top priority for our social agenda.
So, I don't think you're being a downer. You're being a realist. But I imagine that ou agree that the most realistic perspective is neither entirely pessimistic nor entirely optimistic. Some things are undeniably so much ridiculously better than they used to be. Other challenges are appearing that have never been present in the same way before because we live in an age that's dramatically different than any before.
I think the challenge is having a conversation where we acknowledge that some parts of our experience are better than ever, while other parts seem to be more challenging than ever. I don't think we should give up on hot showers in order to try to reclaim our Hazda satisfaction, but we also need to address the unhappiness and ill health of our people (among other pressing issues).
Also, that was an awesome article, thanks for sharing! @deepspace12
I currently live in a "developing country" : )
I've seen how bleak things are.
I still believe the opportunity for great positive transformation has never been stronger.
Thanks Brandon.
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley is another great book on this topic of human progress.
Indeed it is man. It really is :)
🙂
Love this. Thanks for sharing Lenny. I always appreciate it when IHers go deep into metaphysical topics.
This reminded me of something from astrophysicist Brian Cox. He maintains a humble view of humans' place in the universe i.e. extremely insignificant AND YET ...
Humans are the only species that we're aware of that derive meaningfulness from our existence. It took 4.54~ billion years for that to occur.
In other words, if we don't figure out our shit and wipe ourselves out from climate change, war, etc., we will have literally eliminated the only form of meaningfulness out of the universe (for the time being :)
We're all stardust and someday we will all return to that.
Exactly. For all we know Earth is the only occurrence of life in the Universe.
I'm a fan of Brian Cox.
Please also see, The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch.
It's a life changer. It truly thought me about the significance of humans on a universal scale.