What is Reddit's opinion of The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves (P.S.)?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

May I suggest a book?

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0061452068

Outrage and bad news commands attention. It's part of human psychology. So that's all you are ever fed because it is profitable. This book makes a good case for why things are generally good and getting better.

Amen

People just like to complain about the growing income gap (between rich and poor) or the rape culture or the growth in violence when in fact all statistics show that the world is a much better place now than it was 50 years ago: in these times being poor meant not having a fridge and not eating every day. Today it's having a smartphone that's not an iphone. Rape occurrences got halved over the last 20y and litteracy rates have gone up significantly in places where it was really low.

Just read The Rational Optimist which shows how the world is so much better than it used to, and humans have always found ways to avoid the catastrophy that doomsayers were announcing.

An interesting counterbalance is The Rational Optimist. The world is using more resources, but GDP and energy seem to be decoupling, clean energy sources are starting to take off, and technology keeps moving on. If we get the incentives right (revenue neutral carbon tax ideally, also smart city policies) there isn't any real reason that we have to be doomed to a resource collapse.

As you mention, energy prices have recently collapsed and may stay depressed for a while. It reminds me about the Population Bomb that never really happened.

This book is another great one with lots of data on why things are dramatically better now than they ever have been for the vast majority of people - and the rate of improvement is increasing exponentially.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rational-Optimist-Prosperity-Evolves/dp/0061452068

I notice that every option listed you follow it with the costs of pursuit. Reread one of them.

>I thought about going back into teaching, but it requires a lot of schooling (I never got certified or my masters and would want to get that done) for something that (a) pays very little, and (b) isn't a surefire thing I'd enjoy.

It is hard to get started when all you know is what you can lose. You will need to develop a Rationally Optimistic view on your options.

To demonstrate, I wanna highlight an option that tells me more than "what it costs."

>If I am by myself, I am 100% just lost in my own world writing my memoirs or doing nothing at all.
>
>I love writing more than anything, ~~but you can't just drop what you're doing and be a writer. You need manuscripts, a publisher who buys what you're selling, and even then it seems a difficult life. And what about health insurance?~~

You love writing! Now that sounds convincing. So much so that your reason why you can't pursue it seems flimsy by comparison. I take it the people around you don't highlight what drives you specifically. You are capable of dealing them, I am more concerned with this idea of writing.

We gotta look at writing from where you stand first. Manuscripts? Publishers? Fuck em. How often do you write? Do you share it? If so, what feedback have you received? Connected to anyone else who writes? These questions are both crucial and realistic. A publisher is likely a million words and hundreds of emails away. Provide yourself some respect. I wager you don't lay heavy expectations on someone you just met. You likely break things down into reasonable checkpoints. Do the same for yourself.

You are more creative and free spirited than software sales might allow. The good news is your success there can buy you time to hone your skills as a writer. If you haven't heard of David Perell I would highly recommend combing through his site. He teaches people the joy of writing. Particularly those apprehensive about communicating their thoughts.

A living example would be Ed Latimore. He is an ex-Heavyweight Boxer who now writes for a living. His tweets in particular are both wise and hilarious. Showing that professional level writing has room for authentic expression. I think you should give it a shot.

Thanks! I'll check these out... and maybe I'll reread the Dark Tower series, so friggin' great.

<>

Edit:

Amazon links:

The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley

Abundance Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler

Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker

Stephen King's Dark Tower Series

Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles)

Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series

(yeah, these are smile.amazon.com links... if you aren't already supporting some organization with your Amazon purchases, how about my kid's school's PTA?)

True, the World is a better place for more people, in every metric that counts than it ever has been at any other point in human history. It is an unpopular opinion though, because individuals like to whine about how tough they have it because while having access to the best nutrition, education, technology, healthcare than anyone else in human history... Life still isn't great because (according to posts in this thread) social media, or something.

There's some really good books in this topic.

Progress - Johan Norberg - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress:_Ten_Reasons_to_Look_Forward_to_the_Future

The Rational Optimist - Matt Ridley - https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Optimist-Prosperity-Evolves-P-s/dp/0061452068

Factfulness - Ten Reasons we're wrong about the world and why things are better than you we think - Hans Rosling - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factfulness:_Ten_Reasons_We%27re_Wrong_About_the_World_%E2%80%93_and_Why_Things_Are_Better_Than_You_Think

Enlightenment Now - Steven Pinker - https://www.amazon.com/Factfulness-Reasons-World-Things-Better/dp/1250107814

If you're not, I have a book for you.

https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Optimist-Prosperity-Evolves-P-s/dp/0061452068?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&amp;dplnkId=d22c761a-3c8f-4471-a468-38228d8a1879

I'm highly recommending this book for you OP https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Optimist-Prosperity-Evolves-P-s/dp/0061452068

Refreshing to see an actual Ni-post on an Ni-Dom subreddit.

You're basically correct, OP. I read the &quot;Rational Optimist&quot; by Matt Ridley 12 years ago and I'm still optimistic about humanity. I'm not optimistic about the West in general or the U.S. as the dominant world power whatsoever, but as long as entrepreneurs, inventors, visionaries, and human ambition exists, humanity will keep pushing higher and higher. The Luddites will be forgotten as always as we push towards a Type-1 civilization.

I don't think we're going to be meeting ET anytime soon, so I won't make any predictions on that. I've been leaning more and more to the rare earth hypothesis, i.e. sentient life could be very hard to manifest and even more of a recent development within the last several billion years. Who knows.

No way we have A.I. yet. Let me talk to it, and I'll fool the bot in minutes, if not seconds, into speaking nonsense or ignoring inconvenient conversational paths. If the bot can't pass the Turing Test consistently, it isn't sentient. This interview isn't good enough for me. We must be more strict on what's sentient and what isn't.

Nuclear fusion, quantum computing, cryptocurrency potentially revolutionizing how we guide economics and exchange value with one another -- there are countless technologies out there that might really change the game for sure. Humanity in general still has a ton of cultural growth and development to overcome, but I believe technological growth plays a disproportional role in that.

However, we must be balanced with our optimism to some extent and be careful with exact time frames. In the next 10 to 20 years, expect a ton of turbulence and chaos in the West, and I don't know if - say - the many power members of the WEF -- which includes many tech giants -- will take kindly to that. During chaotic times, nefarious groups and peoples can easily take all our developed technology and weaponize it to essentially set humanity back in the name of this or that ideology. You just can't predict it well.

At the moment, I do believe China will pick up the torch and carry it forward, but I don't know if I like how they're using A.I. to scan for dissidents and confirm ideological loyalty. If humanity pushes too far in that direction, what could've happened in 10 to 20 years will take another century, if not more, as generations die out. As our technological prowess grows, our skill and ability to oppress one another grow with it. Culture cannot be ignored.

I would also suggest The Rational Optimist, which is pretty similar but from an economic angle.

If you want some other great books I recommend The Rational Optimist and anything by Thomas Sowell. You have any recommendations?

Just leaving this here for those interested in this thesis:

https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Optimist-Prosperity-Evolves-P-S/dp/0061452068

And this:

https://www.amazon.com/Skeptical-Environmentalist-Measuring-State-World/dp/0521010683

It is actually pretty mainstream. It is a great book on trade and human development, but it touches on the topic. Its a great read. https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Optimist-Prosperity-Evolves-P-S/dp/0061452068

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rational-Optimist-Prosperity-Evolves/dp/0061452068

Another great thought-provoker

http://www.amazon.com/Rational-Optimist-Prosperity-Evolves-P-S/dp/0061452068/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1416175069&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Rational+optimist

Yes, there are problems that we need to solve and things can suck but it's important to keep a balanced perspective. Things are also pretty great in many ways and they are getting even better for most people, most of the time.

I recommend getting a little perspective to balance the daily headlines thrust at us by reading The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley. It's a very well-researched and thoroughly footnoted work that shows overall, when averaged across all living humans, the quality of life, health, longevity and well-being of the average human is continuing to improve faster than it ever has - and the rate of improvement is itself increasing.

Yes, there are occasional setbacks for short periods of time or in certain regions, and there are always challenges to overcome and things to fix, but overall, by any measure, the improvement is undeniable.

Every generation has had its doom-sayers and they are invariably popular despite events almost never being as bad as they predict. As people age, many grow nostalgic for a past era that wasn't really as good as they remember. And older people are legendary for claiming "everything these days is going to hell in a hand basket". My grandparents did, my parents did and now I hear my friends starting to do it. This despite the overwhelming data to the contrary whether, economic, sociological, medical, anthropological, scientific or technological.

We're now beginning to understand that this is simply a human trait that is a constant. Despite things improving overall in thousands of ways large and small, humans are conditioned to focus on the negatives and to over-emphasize potential threats. Combine that with 24/7 global news reporting that invariably seeks to find and focus on the scariest-sounding soundbite from anywhere in the world today, we end up with a false perception that can rob people of the optimism they should rationally be feeling.

We tend to focus on the problems because large parts of American sociology is currently focused on changing the world. I highly recommend reading/listening to this book to temper some of the doom and gloom - https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Optimist-Prosperity-Evolves-P-s/dp/0061452068

It's not perfect, but it focuses on the positive aspects of how society has evolved over time.

I've also heard good things about Enlightment Now - but I haven't had the time to read it yet https://www.amazon.com/Enlightenment-Now-Science-Humanism-Progress/dp/0525427570