Ask HN: Do you feel optimistic about the future?

Yes. Southeast Asian here. Things used to be very bad - money was power, money bought money, corruption was rampant. Technology has actually evened things - chainsaws, bread, tractors, up until the fintech, e-commerce, and so on today. Violent race conflicts have gone down. Corruption and abuse is significantly more difficult; no longer does one political party own all the media, the CCP.

I think the Western world has gone through a bit of a bubble though. Throughout history, full time jobs are not the norm. Corruption-free politics are not normal. War, pestilence, famine, death are normal cycles of life. One does not simply have 30 year plans; houses get bombed, companies die, low risk investments are an outlier. Black swan events should be expected. MAD is a Nash equilibrium, but it's not stable - eventually an irrational person will lead a nuclear country.

I think we're going through a correction, not a decline. Nuclear policy is likely the scariest thing now.

Climate change will affect all of us and be the main source of black swan events. SE Asia actually takes it very seriously - all three major political parties in Malaysia proposed it within top 5 priorities. That may be because rising sea levels affect us severely. But if some developing countries can take it seriously, I expect the whole world will be on board with it as well.

Yes, read Factifulness if you're not. Media has been increasingly tuned towards negative reactions since we're genetically wired to pay attention to them more for survival... which they've been doing an increasingly good job at recently.

No and yes, mostly due to climate change but for the nearer future I am worried about nationalism and violence being on the rise,

What lessens this pessimism a bit are news like this

> Men's Sperm Count Has Dropped Over 60% Globally In 45 Years

Nature finds it's way to balance things.

No. I've never been an optimist, but I'm now cynical about nearly everything.

The world seems to be marching inevitably towards WWIII, authoritarianism is resurgent, and domestic politics are more divided than ever. Not much optimism to be found there.

Personally, all my friends are dead, I have no prospects, and living seems increasingly to be just a chore I keep doing out of habit. I'm tired of it all...

In the very broad sense, yes. Progress is not linear and civilizations ebb and flow. Even the Greeks had their own “dark ages” for example. Perhaps we are entering a down trend again (who knows?) but enlightened ages will spring forth again too.

Insofar that the current turmoil provides opportunities which, while growing up, I considered shut for my generation.

Climate change is coming. And humanity is stupid. We react to most problems when it's too late.

No.

Seeing advertisement and agencies thoughout all over place made me stop caring about human at all.

Destruction is in action.

Yes, I do.

I do it to rebel against the negative outlook that is constantly being pushed in the media and the people who revel in telling everyone how the world sucks and how it's going to get even worse.

I also do it because most of the time that things are nowhere near as bad as these people insist. The pandemic was a great example of that, I remember reading how we have at least 5 years of lockdowns ahead of us, how there will never be a vaccine and even if there will be one we won't get it before 2025. The reality is that it's 2022 and no one even talks about the coronavirus anymore. I'm almost convinced that the so-called "energy crisis" is the same and I wonder if the upcoming "recession" will be similar.

Still waiting for our benevolent robot overlords.

No. Life was much easier a decade ago.