[throwaway_75369]

I can think of two major things which make me feel good about the future -

1) Medicine continues to do amazing things. I'm kinda amazed at how quickly everyone forgot about how awesome the mRNA vaccines are. Even if they didn't completely stop Covid, the tech is brimming with potential; now we just need to iterate on the social systems to strike the balance between speed and safety, and the incentives are pointing in the right direction. Even before the mRNA stuff, think of monoclonal antibodies, which are effectively treating all kinds of horrible diseases like autoimmunity. And for even one more example, the relatively recent discovery that stomach ulcers could be treat with antibiotics. We keep making huge strides in eliminating pretty useless suffering.

2) I see signs of self-correction in some of the social pathologies caused by the internet and social media, even if it's sometimes unintentional and even crass. For example, I think doomscrolling is a horrifying mental pathology, but now there's the pithy internet phrase "go outside and touch grass". While this is insulting in the usual blunt internet-ey way, it actually seems like good and appropriate advice :p

As a kind of corollary to this, I can't put my finger on it precisely, but I feel like there's a younger generation coming up which is strangely really wholesome and less crass and cynical than the last several cohorts. It makes me wonder if perhaps they're somehow inoculated against the worst of the generally negative internet attitude, having completely grown up with it. I could just be imagining it, of course.