Does anybody have a sense of optimism about the future?

[True Dough]

When you think about what we read here at the DU daily (and what we hear from media), there is plenty of talk about the dysfunctional state of politics.

We know America's debt is nearing crippling levels and the economy will suffer accordingly.

There's no end to talk about climate disasters and coming catastrophes.

On the health front, we hear constantly about the toll of opioid addictions and the obesity epidemic.

Other than the Democrats eventually retaking the White House and the Senate -- and they'll have plenty of work to do to clean up the huge messes -- what gives you any sense of optimism these days?

[matt819]

1. Is this a yes or no question?

No.

[marylandblue]

2. The human tendency to work best under crisis

We are bad at long-term thinking, which is how we get into messes that are hard to get out of. But when the crisis comes, our minds are focused on surviving. This presents great opportunities to make changes that weren't possible before. It also creates great dangers, because mistakes during a crisis are disastrous. But to maintain optimism, I focus on the opportunities.

[BeyondGeography]

3. It's a problem

A line from David Runciman/London Review of Books:

“The problem for US Democrats and more generally for social democrats around the world is that at a time of rapid change they don’t have as sharp a vision of the future as the people who want to go back to an imagined past.”

The crash of 2008 and its unsatisfying and unpredictable aftermath created a huge credibility problem for the so-called clear thinkers. What’s next, optimists? A FANG-dominated world filled with killer robots? This is how Trump happens.

[Goodheart]

4. No, I don't.

I think harmonious civilization is killing itself away by overpopulating and polluting.

[LongtimeAZDem]

5. Between peak oil and global warming, I fear for my daughter's future. /nt

[Hela]

6. Hope Never Dies

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/510mVuvUAfL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

(I was going to respond seriously with "there's always hope," and then I found this.)

"Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama team up in this high-stakes thriller that combines a mystery worthy of Watson and Holmes with the laugh-out-loud bromantic chemistry of Lethal Weapon’s Murtaugh and Riggs.

Vice President Joe Biden is fresh out of the Obama White House and feeling adrift when his favorite railroad conductor dies in a suspicious accident, leaving behind an ailing wife and a trail of clues. To unravel the mystery, “Amtrak Joe” re-teams with the only man he’s ever fully trusted: the 44th president of the United States. Together they’ll plumb the darkest corners of Delaware, traveling from cheap motels to biker bars and beyond, as they uncover the sinister forces advancing America’s opioid epidemic.

Part noir thriller and part bromance, Hope Never Dies is essentially the first published work of Obama/Biden fiction—and a cathartic read for anyone distressed by the current state of affairs."

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. I have zero optimism about the future.

Catastrophic climate change is, at this point, pretty much a certainty by the end of the century if not sooner; civilisation as we know it is probably going to collapse within the lifetimes of some people here. Science will not save us; there is no technological fix for the problem that won't result in severely reduced living standards for everyone, and concomitant massive civil unrest. The mass displacements of populations due to climate change will make our current arguments around mass migration look tame; there will probably be famines due to crop losses, and I am not sure that civil society will endure. Humanity as a species is probably doomed, based on the way things are going and current projections from present trends; the absolute best-case scenario will probably be a drastically reduced human population with a few survivors clinging on. The worst case is a mass extinction like what happened at the end of the Permian era.

[True Dough]

8. You must be fun at parties!

Not dismissing your concerns, but it all sounds SO grim!

[Garrett78]

21. I'm not quite that pessimistic but those are valid concerns.

It's rather fascinating to observe how much willful ignorance and denial there is around this issue. Those who are only experiencing gradual impacts, if they even recognize impacts, can't wrap their heads around the magnitude of the situation. Like a frog in boiling water. I'm not immune from that myself. We go about our daily lives not knowing what to do about something so huge.

[TNLib]

9. Some days I feel like Amerca is like a ghost pirate ship There is no one of substance piloting

Just a bunch of old ghosts and a crazy guy at the helm.

[lapfog_1]

10. I have mixed feelings

part of me believes that the Trump experiment is about to come to an end... possibly taking the rest of what's left of republicanism with it.

That said, I think the economy is about to crash again (and I am not yet prepared for that)... and then there are the longer term issues you mentioned... yes they all need solutions, but none are on the horizon (debt, climate, drug addiction and suicide, etc).

[elocs]

11. No, I'm not optimistic about the future in the long term.

We are all fired up about the Blue Wave which just happened, but I believe without evidence of consistent change that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Yes, the Left is united now in their opposition to Trump and Republicans and are turning out to vote, but that's the point--too often too many on the Left need to be excited and motivated to vote while the tendency for Republicans is to look upon voting as their duty.
So I see Democrats as returning to their old habits of being undependable, complacent, and fickle voters which will allow Republicans to creep back again to power.

[True Dough]

15. You say the Left is united against Trump

and there's truth in that, but there's also some biter threads here in regards to the leadership of the party, who should be running for President and VP. Hopefully that will be behind us and forgotten in the not too distant future, but the Bernie/Hillary battle really left some lasting damage.

[Kurt V.]

12. I'm an optimist

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ascent_of_Man

[Garrett78]

13. Retaking the Senate is far from a given.

It's hard to be super optimistic given the systemic changes that are needed. We very much have an anti-democratic, tyranny of the minority system. And it's quite entrenched. Plus, we need major media reform.

And then there's climate change.

I am hopeful we'll take the White House and maintain a House majority in 2020. But attention spans and memories are short. There's a penchant for power swings and divided government, even when 1 party has made it clear it wants to destroy lives by the millions.

[OneGrassRoot]

14. Howard Zinn on Hope...

“TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

― Howard Zinn

[True Dough]

17. Thanks for that reminder, OneGrassRoot!

I like to believe in human ingenuity and our ability to overcome our greatest problems. I also keep in mind that prominent citizens have predicted inevitable armageddon for millenia and they haven't been right yet.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. Beto is on the horizon and hope is on the way.

[True Dough]

18. He seems like a good candidate

to hitch our wagons to.

[H2O Man]

19. Yes.

[Cicada]

20. Yes, I am optimistic. Today is best day ever to be born.

Look at progress in the past 100 years. Average wage in US up 11 fold. Life expectancy almost double. Diseases controlled or cured. Extreme poverty around the world down to small percentage, headed to almost zero. Childhood deaths way down. Number living in democracies up five fold. Number dying from violence down 90% or so. Education common, expanding. Energy costs will be cut in half. Cost of cars will be cut in half within a decade. Angry old white republicans dying off. Low wages in China and Mexico rising so there will be no pressure to move jobs. Genetic engineering will greatly reduce birth defects. It will expand healthy lifespans. We need to race to fix the environment, that’s a big risk, but assuming we don’t kill all life things look good. And I think we can find ways to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Blockchain will cut the take of finance firms from 20% of output to less than 10%. Politics will get liberal, republicans will go out of business.

[True Dough]

22. Cicada

With flourishing optimism like that, why do you only come around every 17 years? We could use more of it!

[KPN]

23. Yes. There's no other reasonable option.

To some extent, either answer (yes or no) is self-fulfilling. But No is also self-defeating. Unacceptable.

[fescuerescue]

24. THe future has always been bleak

There is always a crisis right around the corner.

If you look throughout history, all societies always have a great boogey man waiting to get them.

Sometimes they are right. Sometimes not. But usually the boogey man serves more to unite people (usually against another group that doesn't beleive in that particular boogey man), unless the next boogey man comes along.

So yea, I have major concerns about alot of things. But I take comfort in that within a few years, those concerns will be replaced by even bigger concerns.