Ask HN: Reasons to Be Cheerful It's easy to look to world events and decisions being made by those in positions of power and influence and wonder whether greed and selfishness really will be the undoing of humanity. Or at least that an inclusive, empathetic and caring world is a pipe dream. So to counter this, I would like to ask you what tangible good you see in our present that bodes well for the future? Hat tip: Ian Drury's song of the same name as the title of this post. |
Team Seas is cleaning up the Pacific garbage patch and installing smaller devices in rivers to prevent pollution from making it out into the ocean.
Martine Rothblatt (creator of SiriusXM) is now leading up a company that was first started to cure her daughter's rare medical condition (which was successful) and is now 3D printing organs for transplant, then created some electric helicopters, because the organs needed to get to the hospital more quickly and quietly.
When you see those new(ish) Coke machines with the touch screens at restaurants, remember that those are there because of a partnership Dean Kamen made with Coke to help distribute Slingshot water purification systems to remote places around the world. His team designed the machine for Coke, and Coke helped him get clean water to people all over the world. There was a documentary about this called Slingshot.
The news likes to push out stories of doom and gloom, because that's what gets attention, but there are a lot of people still doing amazing things. Most of them are too busying making things happen to broadcast it on social media or market it in a way that will inform a lot of people what they're working on. There have always been selfish people in the world and the fall of humanity has been predicted for thousands of years... we're still here. It only takes a few amazing people to save millions. Those people tend to rise to the occasion.
Like the atomic bombs. Firstly, it is a weapon (bad). That leaded to a change (where the people realized what it means to have a atomic bomb). The change wasn't too good. So from bombs, to electrical plants - to renewable energy sources.
Everything is a chance to advance further. That's my thinking of then, now and the future:)