🌎 Optimism today?
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Sometimes, staying optimistic can be hard. Especially on days like today. There's a global pandemic affecting nearly the entire world, economies are free falling, and there is a looming sense of fear when you go out and about for the day. Turning on the news only fuels that fear, but leaving it off can make you feel like you are missing out on critical information.
So how can anyone possibly feel optimistic in the face of such crisis, disruptions, and overall… well… pessimism?
I believe that it all starts by taking a step back, a deep breath, and paying attention to, not the problem itself, but what is being done about it by people, companies, and initiatives all over the world. There is a reason that we at Warp call ourselves fact-based optimists. Of course, the world is not always rainbows and butterflies. Big problems still exist and, as we are experiencing today, those problems can be disruptive to daily life, scary, and even deadly.
So what exactly is fact-based optimism and how do we use it in our day to day life?
Fact-based optimism begins by understanding, with absolute certainty, that the world is better today than it has ever been in the history of humanity.
By nearly every statistic, this is the best century to be alive, EVER. Every aspect of a person's life today is measurably better than it has been in millennia, centuries, or even decades past. More infants survive the historically vulnerable first years of life and grow into children that are enrolling in school at an unprecedented rate. These children grow into adulthood with more opportunity than ever to have a successful, middle-class or higher economic lifestyle, and to live in a democratic society where they are free to express their opinions, beliefs, and thoughts to shape their governing bodies. And finally, with the culmination of all of these consistently improving facets of life, people are living longer than at any point in human history.
So, regardless of how seemingly big a problem we are facing, we must realize that humanity is stronger, smarter, more connected, and better equipped to deal with these big problems than ever before. We have the best doctors, scientists, and technologists than ever before to be combating this new pandemic.
Pandemics have happened throughout human history.
If you compare the state of the world at the time any of them took place, to the state of the world today, it becomes much easier to recognize that we can overcome this quickly and save countless lives.
During the most infamous pandemics; the bubonic plague of the 14th century, the cholera pandemic of the 1800s, or the Spanish Flu of the early 1900s, humans were at an extreme disadvantage. Imagine how many lives would have been saved if world leaders at the time could have live-streamed communications to millions of people in their nations, telling them what steps to take to stay clean, healthy, and isolate themselves to prevent outbreak. Would the general public have felt more optimistic if doctors were able to Tweet out updates on a daily basis to the entire planet? And what if, instead of having to depend on the town crier, citizens could have pulled out a pocket-sized computer to get live updates of infectious cases in their immediate surrounding area, and then take immediate precautions to protect themselves?
There's no question that a pandemic is a terrible and scary thing to experience, but if I must experience one, I would choose the Coronavirus pandemic of the 21st century every single time.
Today, our brilliant doctors and scientists can work as a global community.
They can employ tools and resources such as computers, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology that have never before been available to deal with a crisis such as this one. When the treatments and vaccinations are found, they can be shipped across the globe with unprecedented speed. And when these big discoveries are made, they can be communicated to billions of people in a matter of seconds.
The most important thing to remember when looking at this, or any other problem that we still face is that now, more than ever, we have the ability to find solutions and work towards a resolution.
The key ingredient to taking advantage of these truths is to remain optimistic about our future.
Like many things in life, mindset is critical. If people think the future is going to be worse than today, they will act accordingly. They find and focus on the problems, but not the solutions.
This is why we at Warp News believe that our mission and vision for a brighter future is so important.
We look at the facts of the world, breakthroughs in science and technology, and see great progress. We find and share the best ideas humanity has to offer, and believe this is the best way to pivot the world to a more productive and optimistic future.
As a result of becoming more optimistic and forward-looking, humanity will generate more creative thinkers who are better at visualizing the future and coming up with more ideas. People will also be more open to new ideas of others. These new innovators will take more action and make something of those ideas. When they face resistance they will be less likely to give up, so the innovation success rate will be higher. After failures, they’ll be more likely to make a comeback and try something new. We will get more ideas, more action on those ideas, and more success in seeing them through.
If we at Warp News do our jobs right, then you in the community will feel more optimistic about the future, and be more likely to take part in creating that future. You’ll see and grab opportunities. Small, big and huge ones. You will increase the pace of innovation and warp the curve for humanity’s progress.