3️⃣ Three steps to become a fact-based optimist

Better than it looks

Does it feel like the world is filled with horrors and almost nothing good is happening? There is great suffering in our world, but it's only one part of reality.

To discover the other part, you need a different perspective on life. A perspective that not only makes you feel better but also helps you see many opportunities that pessimists miss.

Think of it as starting a workout program, but with the big difference that this is not strenuous, but just delightful and uplifting right from the start.

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Step 1

Lay a fact-based foundation.

Read

In Enlightenment Now!, Steven Pinker takes a solid grip on the world's progress.

Factfulness is Hans Rosling's final message to us, about the world's progress and also how we should avoid being deceived by negative news.

Progress by Johan Norberg gives ten reasons to look forward to the future.

Our World in Data is a fantastic source of global statistics.

Kevin Kelly's The Case for Optimism

💡 Kevin Kelly: The Case for Optimism

Kevin Kelly is the founder of Wired Magazine and author of several books, among them The Inevitable. For Warp News he presents his case for optimism.

Warp NewsKevin Kelly

David Deutsch's Optimism, pessimism and cynicism.

💡 David Deutsch: Optimism, Pessimism and Cynicism

With so much progress in the world, how can pessimism still be widespread? It is because of cynicism, denying that “so-called-progress” is progress, argues David Deutsch, professor at Oxford University and one of the world’s leading intellectuals on optimism.

Warp NewsDavid Deutsch

For a deeper understanding of optimism, David Deutsch's The Beginning of Infinity is recommended.

Look

Listen

TED-Chris Anderson's interview with David Deutsch is a 5+.

Step 2

Change your news diet with less doom scrolling and more hope scrolling.

In Factfulness, Hans Rosling compares news consumption to eating sugar. Once, it was wise to consume all the sugar one could find, as access to nutrition was uncertain. That's no longer the case, so one needs to control sugar intake and combat sugar cravings.

At one time, it was prudent to react strongly to something that might be negative or dangerous. The world was dangerous for humans then and little help was available if something went wrong. But the world is not nearly as dangerous today. Therefore, we cannot let this instinct kick in when we see negative headlines about various threats.

Just as we need to control our food diet, we must control our news diet. The good news is that it's possible. The news media is indeed full of negative news, but there are alternatives. Progress Network is a favorite. Also, follow Tony Morley's Upwing and Jim O'Shaughnessy's Infinite Loops. Of course, you should also subscribe to Warp News' free newsletter.

Step 3

Dare to dream about the future.

Think about an optimistic future. For you and the world. Immerse yourself in it. Let your thoughts wander. Warp your brain and tell yourself that for the next five minutes, I will only think about a positive future. Write down your ideas and thoughts. Return and read them now and then.

Besides feeling better, sooner or later some exciting ideas will emerge from this.

It is extremely difficult to create a desirable future without first envisioning it. To imagine is really the first step in creating anything. Therefore an essential chore for making a future we want to live in, is to imagine what it is like and how we get there. That plausible path is a form of optimism. Believing it is possible makes it more likely to happen.
- Kevin Kelly

And remember, Martin Luther King had a dream. Not a nightmare.

Mathias Sundin
The Angry Optimist

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