Jason, wouldn’t you say that what we need is an understanding of how to make progress, not optimism about progress?
I mean, we do have an understanding of how to make material progress, and we’ve made a great deal of material progress over the past few millennia, but surely material progress is not where the marginal action is at just now, right?
Descriptive optimism is contingent: it’s an assessment about the world (or a part of it), and so it’s only warranted when it’s true. There are many aspects of the world that I am descriptively pessimistic about.
But prescriptive optimism is an attitude, a choice. It says that we’re going to work hard to solve problems and make the world and our lives better, no matter what, whether the prospects seem rosy or bleak. And I think we need more prescriptive optimism.
Jason, wouldn’t you say that what we need is an understanding of how to make progress, not optimism about progress?
I mean, we do have an understanding of how to make material progress, and we’ve made a great deal of material progress over the past few millennia, but surely material progress is not where the marginal action is at just now, right?
We need understanding, yes. As to whether we need optimism, that depends what kind of optimism you’re talking about. I’ve distinguished between descriptive and prescriptive optimism: https://rootsofprogress.org/descriptive-vs-prescriptive-optimism
Descriptive optimism is contingent: it’s an assessment about the world (or a part of it), and so it’s only warranted when it’s true. There are many aspects of the world that I am descriptively pessimistic about.
But prescriptive optimism is an attitude, a choice. It says that we’re going to work hard to solve problems and make the world and our lives better, no matter what, whether the prospects seem rosy or bleak. And I think we need more prescriptive optimism.