The world is going to hell.
No, it's not.

People's views about whether the world is getting better or worse are split between these poles. You're either an optimist, aligned with the angels and progress, or a pessimist, a thorn in the path of inevitable progress.

People on both sides marshal facts and anecdotes to support their respective worldviews. On the optimistic side, people argue that the world has never been a better place:

1. Despite recent wars and conflicts, the world has never been more peaceful.

2. Despite the vibes, more people live in democracies than autocracies.

3. People used to die by the age of 30 from preventable diseases, but today we are living longer and healthier lives.

4. Children have a better chance of surviving infancy than at any point in history. For example, if infant mortality rates were at 1990 levels, 132 million kids would have died. The odds of an infant surviving have risen from 50% to 96% globally.

5. Absolute poverty is becoming a thing of the past.

6. While climate change is worsening, we are installing more renewable energy sources than ever before.

7. More people can read and write today than ever before.

8. The world has made significant progress in human rights.

9. Technological progress has brought us untold benefits.

10. We have made dramatic strides in reducing food insecurity.

On the other hand, pessimists point to their own set of facts:

1. Climate change has pushed the planet beyond a point of no return. Now, we just have to wait for the consequences.

2. Natural disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, heatwaves, and earthquakes are becoming more frequent.

3. Millions of people are still dying due to inter- and intrastate violence.

4. More people are dying from climate change-induced heatwaves than ever before.

5. Millions of children are still dying from malnutrition.

6. Climate change will trigger massive food shortages.

7. Wildlife populations have declined by 73% on average since 1970, and biodiversity is under severe threat.

8. Antibiotic resistance could lead to a global health crisis.

9. The rich are getting richer, and there is rampant inequality in wealth distribution.

10. Pollution is killing millions of people worldwide.

I've long been fascinated by the dichotomy between optimism and pessimism, hope and despair. I can't recall exactly when this fascination began, but my earliest memory is of listening to a podcast episode featuring Steven Pinker around 2017 or 2018. Pinker, of course, is a prominent advocate for progress and enlightenment. Since then, I've followed this debate with varying degrees of interest.

The clash between optimists and pessimists is nothing new; it has been raging since time immemorial. Since the dawn of humanity, there have always been people predicting doom and gloom, and yet, here we are. I'm pretty sure that if we had perfect recorded history, we'd find our cave-dwelling ancestors carving "run, it's all over" messages on rocks—prehistoric Twitter, if you will.

What makes someone an optimist or a pessimist?

If you're reading this, you might snap back, "Life circumstances, you idiot. No two people have the same quality of life. Try being an optimist in Sudan, Yemen, or Afghanistan. Dumbass."

To which I say, mentally, of course, fuck you too.

Even if you adjust for life circumstances, lived experiences, and material comforts, people's worldviews about progress and regress still differ drastically. Available data bears this out. On average, people in rich countries seem to be more pessimistic than those in developing countries [ 1 2 3 4 ].

Or perhaps the very framing of optimism vs. pessimism is flawed because it forces people into binary camps, while reality is infinitely more nuanced. Surely, people's perceptions of optimism and pessimism exist on a spectrum, not as a binary choice? This is a point I heard Werner Herzog make on a podcast:

Sean Illing: I'm not sure I've ever thought of you as a pessimist, but I do think of you as someone who's very clear-eyed about the fragility of civilization. Do you even think in these terms? Does the language of pessimism and optimism mean anything to you at all, or is it just the wrong language?

Werner Herzog: No, no, I avoid it. It's too primitive to categorize a person as an optimist or pessimist. I'm just looking at what's out there. Who are we? How fragile is our own biology? How fragile are societies?

Perhaps optimism and pessimism are outcomes, and what we should focus on are the underlying causes—economic, social, cultural, and spiritual.

"So, what the fuck is the answer, and what the fuck are we even talking about, man?" you might be wondering.

To which I say, I don't have any answers.

In May 2024, I wrote a messy and half-baked post on the topic of hope and despair, and I've been thinking about it ever since. After a few weeks, I had the bright idea of creating a website—a log of sorts—that curates things that give us hope or plunge us into despair.

This is the backstory behind this website. My goal is to curate articles, videos, podcasts, and research about optimism and pessimism, hope and despair.

Why?

Well, the fact that a guy can set up a website to document pointless shit like this is a sign of the serious youth unemployment crisis ravaging India.

But on a more serious note, as much as I hate the framing of optimism vs. pessimism, it feels like the defining debate of our times. It's either that, or it's all in my head. Nonetheless, this framing is deeply implicated in the politics and economics of our era.

Powerful actors are working hard to create an "us vs. them" narrative. To agree with them is to be on the side of the angels; to disagree is to be an enemy of humanity. Under the guise of optimism, anything goes, including naked clientelism. The rich, powerful, and elites have co-opted these terms to push their own selfish agendas—the Silicon Valley crowd is a case in point.

So, this is my motivation. As it must be clear by now, I don't have a coherent framing or understanding of this topic, and this site is my attempt to give myself a reason to seek, learn, and share things to become a little less dumb about this complicated subject.

So, what do you think?

Oh wait, I forgot to introduce myself, not that there's a lot to say about me.

Hi there👋

My name is Bhuvan, and I do a lot of random things, like this site. I love writing, and you can read my shit on my blog and digital garden.

If you have any thoughts, you can find me on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Substack.

Thank you Joice for setting up the website.