Every time you catch yourself going, "Fuck, are humans just inherently evil and naturally inclined to selfishness and harm???" you HAVE to remember that that's literally a core ideal of Christianity.
So if it feels inescapable and like evidence of it is everywhere, whether at times or always, that might just because you're in a Western country where you're surrounded by Christians who believe that, fundamentally, in their worldview. And also they talk and make art about it all the time and run the vast majority of news outlets. And spent over a thousand years burning any art or texts that disagreed with them. Etc. etc.
If you're gonna come to as drastic and painful a conclusion as that, at least take the time first to make sure you're not working with biased evidence (surrounded by too many people and cultural products that believe original sin is real)
And if it turns out the feeling WAS partly the result of cultural Christianity, then hey, that's great news, because it means there's that much (and it really is SO MUCH) less evidence that humans inherently suck. Which is good, because we don't
Remember, when a blackpilled doomer calls you naive and tries to convince you that everything is hopeless, it's because they want you to be just as miserable as they are.
Perhaps it's just me. But right now, with the rapid global transition towards green energy, reforestation and conservation efforts, laws, genuinely crazy and huge innovations that can help us adapt to the changing world... it feels like we're on the right track.
Perhaps it's just me. But the geopolitical insanity that I see and learn from my peers all over the world, doesn't feel like the end. No, it... it feels like change. The last horrible and panicked gasps of the dying old, because it refuses to accept that it is not sustainable anymore, and the world is moving towards the better, through protests and unity and human goodness. I've seen this before - in stories from the older generation, and in history books.
But I also feel terribly guilty whenever I start thinking like that, for some odd reason? I feel guilty whenever I try and rationalize that despite it all, the world will continue existing, and even in the worst case scenario (which we already have avoided), there would be forests and oceans and species and biodiversity and ecosystems and people and cities and countries to see and love, because after all, nature is resilient and adaptable - just like our species are.
I feel guilty for feeling this cautious curiosity about what the future might hold for us, the bad and the good. Because I feel like I am obligated to be grieving and panicking and angry, like many people are - but that's just... so tiring.
Hi Anon,
This is going to be a long one because I think your ask gets at something difficult that I have a lot of thoughts about.
Your phrase “cautious curiosity” made me think of psychology researcher Jamil Zaki’s idea of “hopeful skepticism”. Which is not assuming that everything will inevitably get better, but open to the possibility that it could and curious to see the paths it might take to get us there.
Our society tends to view a cynical outlook as more intelligent or even more moral, but research shows that a cynical outlook actually makes people worse at predicting outcomes, worse at cognitive and problem-solving tasks, less likely to vote or protest, and even measurably harms their physical and mental wellbeing.
I think the guilt you describe is likely coming from the feeling that while we have been significantly improving conditions for humanity on this Earth and will likely continue to do so in the long run, in the present there are many real humans suffering--it can be hard and uncomfortable to hold these two truths together.
Even if this last dying breath is temporary and brief, it is destroying real people’s lives and many more live in fear that they will be next. The fact that child mortality has absolutely plummeted even just in my own lifetime is both a miracle of humanity and means little to the parent who has lost their child to a preventable death. To quote the philosopher Max Roser, “The world is much better; the world is still awful; the world can be much better.”.
You don't need to feel guilty for having hope for the future. Carrying feelings like hopelessness, grief, and fear all the time is entirely valid, but like you said it is also exhausting—and there is nothing inherently moral about emotionally suffering particularly if it’s harming your ability to live your life or take positive action.
You are right that we are still making progress in the correct direction in many ways. You are right that history is rife with examples of forward momentum provoking a reactionary backtracking but that the forward momentum usually ultimately prevails.
The key here, is to understand that the future path you describe is possible—even likely more probable than a lot of people think—but it is not inevitable. We still have to take action to make it happen. The arc of history bends towards progress only because so many millions of mostly unnamed unknown people have put the work in to bend it in big and little ways.
I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes from Rebecca Solnit: “Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.”
Reminding others that progress is still happening and that there is hope for a brighter future is important work in getting members of your community to pick up their own axe and make that future happen. Hope in dark times is not just ok or reasonable--it is a precious, vital tool.
to close off about kosa today, please keep the doomerism to a low, LOW degree. sure, things didn't pan out like we would've wanted it to, but we still have time.
i understand the notion to doomer post, i get that. unfortunately, those posts would only stop everyone else from continuing to fighting for our rights. i get that feeling completely, i do. however, and i can keep on saying this, but we're still in this, you guys!
we need to be louder. maybe change up our strategy a bit, but still, our voices were heard. a lot more people were opposing kosa today! think about that.
hopefully, more people will eventually come to that realization that we still have a chance. this wasn't considered a "hands all on deck" situation for no reason.
we did what we could, and we were successful in some way. not fully, but we got somewhere. we just need to continue that.
so until then, never stop fighting. i'll inform y'all about any further developments about kosa. for now, the chat control repeal thing will be getting started soon enough. unfortunately, i don't have enough information about it, so i'll link the discord server about stopping chat control here. if anyone's in the eu, and if you care about your anonymity, i would recommend checking it out, and fighting for your rights as well. until then, i'll head on out.
thank you for fighting this, as well as any nice comments you all gave me. hopefully, everything today had gone a bit better than before. that's all i'll say.
this post was mainly about the doomer posts going around, but hopefully my point still stands.
do not doom, and gloom. that is what they want from us.
Have a 700 word vent fic about Japan Free Practices 1+2
Not A Good Day
“Are you done?”
Max glares up at GP standing in his driver's room door. “What?”
“Are you done snapping at everyone?”
“No.”
GP sighs, feeling more tired than disappointed, “At least you're honest about it.”
“Well I'll be lucky if I even start the race so-”
“Come now, the car’s not that bad.”
“Guess we'll see won't we.”
“Max-”
“It would round off the month nicely don't you think?” He spits the words like acid pouring from his tongue “Crash dnf dsq, dns. Why not.”
“Max don't do this.”
“Don't do want?”
“Assume the worst about everything.”
“What, you want me to assume the best?”
“A nice neutral would be nice.”
“Yeah good luck with that mate. We're a solid midfield right now you're welcome to be happy with that but I will not pretend.”
“Still. ‘Not a good day' being your official statement seems a bit harsh. We're about where we were in China with pace, and we fixed the start procedure and the coolant system. Our engine is reliable. We may not be fighting for wins but it's not our worst weekend set up.”
“You are welcome to be happy with everything, as I said, I will not pretend I am. I am done pretending. Either fix the car or I'll keep saying it's bad. Simple as that.”
“Is it because it's Suzuka?”
“Do you think losing a four year winning streak is something I should be happy about?”
“No, I'm saying don't mourn a loss before you even get in the car.”
“I have gotten into the car. This is the problem.”
“Max-”
“No GP, I am done. Red Bull can fine me if they want but I'm not playing this game. If they want me to stay on the team then they should leave me alone and just let me drive.”
GP raises his eyebrows, “Is that a threat?”
“Take it however you would like.”
“I'm on your side, Max.”
There's a sardonic snort “Sure.”
“You've never doubted me before.” He tries not to be hurt by the statement. By the stinging lack of trust.
“Just wait until you join another team and don't have to like me. Then we'll see what happens.”
“That would never happen for multiple reasons. The first, of course, being that I'll only go if you go.”
Max only shrugs, not making eye contact.
“Is that what this is about? Jonathan?”
“Jonathan, Mick, Nelson, commentators, fans, the FIA-”
“Since when does it bother you so much?”
Max finally looks at GP and there's a dangerous, angry glint in his eye.
“It's just noise Max. All of it.”
“Yes, well, I'm tired of it.” Max finally snaps. “I'm tired of the noise, alright?”
“Max-”
“This is ridiculous. You're right. I shouldn't care. Maybe it is best that I just retire and move on with my life. I was never wanted here to begin with.”
There's a stab of regret in GPs soul because he doesn't even know what to say. Encouragement? Apologies? Scolding? It's not true. Not really. Max is respected in his own right. Just not by the loudest crowd.
Max has always been bothered by his treatment in F1. Those closest to him know that. He is just normally better at compartmentalizing it. He's not normally so negative or… pouty.
“Would the noise bother you if you were winning?”
A harsh laugh, “What does it matter? I'm not.”
“That's a yes.”
“It's not about winning.” Those were foreign words coming from Max Verstappen. “But it is not fun. For the first time ever I am happier when I am not driving. It is not about the championship. It is not about the wins. The car is bad. The regulations are bad. I have no place in F1 anymore.”
“Max-”
“I am done with this conversation.”
GP presses his lips together. Max was at his limit. That was clear. “We can talk after qualifying.” Maybe FP3 if things improved. But it didn't look like they would. Not overnight at least.
“Sure.”
GP hesitates before leaving, watching Max for another moment. He wants to say more, needs to say more, but what is there to say?
“Get some sleep, Max.”
He only grunts in response.
Max was right. Not a good day.
Idk if I'll put this on Ao3 or not bc it's so short but I needed the release lol
The present isn't a dystopia. It's just a complicated, chaotic, sometimes amazing, sometimes brutal world.
The future is, I think, unlikely to become a dystopia in the sense we imagine it. I saw this for two reasons:
1.
First, I say "the sense we imagine it" because dystopias are based on the idea that all hope (for humanity, usually, sometimes all life) has been extinguished forever, and the forces of dystopia shall never be overthrown.
I don't believe that kind of world is possible - a world where there is never more hope. A true end to history. I don't think it's ever possible for all humans to stop fighting, as long as we're here. I have lots of evidence to based this on, much of which is called "all of human history." (And eternal dystopia is especially impossible if you look at deep time - there have been five previous mass extinctions, and life is still here.)
But it will not come to that.
Here's why:
2.
We have already averted truly apocalyptic levels of warming.
Yes, read that again. Let it sink in. This is what the science now says. We have already averted truly apocalyptic global warming.
To quote David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth, from his huge feature in the New York Times:
"Thanks to astonishing declines in the price of renewables, a truly global political mobilization, a clearer picture of the energy future and serious policy focus from world leaders, we have cut expected warming almost in half in just five years...
The window of possible climate futures is narrowing, and as a result, we are getting a clearer sense of what’s to come: a new world, full of disruption but also billions of people, well past climate normal and yet mercifully short of true climate apocalypse."
(New York Times, October 22, 2022. Unpaywalled here. Emphasis mine. And yes, this vision of the future is backed up by the current science on the issue, as he explains at length in the article.)
So we've already averted truly apocalyptic warming, and we've already cut expected warming IN HALF in just the past five years.
The pace of technology, of innovation, of prices, of feasibility, of discovery, of organizing, of grassroots movements, of movements in other countries around the world, have all picked up the pace so fast in the last five years.
Renewable technology and capacity are both increasing at an exponential rate. It's all S-curves, ones that look like this:
-via The Economist, June 20, 2024.
How much more will we manage in another five years? Another ten? Another twenty?
I know the US is about to fucking suck about the environment for the next four years. But the momentum of renewable energy is far too much to stop - both in the US (x) and around the world.
(Huge shoutouts to India, China, and Brazil for massive gains for the environment in renewables, and Brazil for massive progress against Amazon deforestation.)
