The Dark Forest reminded me that “the future will be better” is a relatively recent belief. It hasn’t always been true, considering ancient Rome enjoyed higher living standards than the Middle Ages. After the Industrial Revolution, however, human life quality steadily improved, as did our faith in an imaginary future.
According to Wikipedia, the Industrial Revolution lasted from 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. Thus, America since its founding has never lived through time when the past is undeniably better than the present. While Donald Trump’s presidency, the climate crisis, and the nation’s growing inequality may change this status quo, it currently holds true. America’s convenient founding time may be why optimism is written into this country’s DNA. From self-help books to prominent venture capitalists, Americans laud optimism as one of the most desirable traits and a crucial ingredient to success.
This attitude isn’t the norm in China. During a conversation with a Chinese VC, he remarked “Chinese people can’t build this,” when I showed him pieces of flashy productivity software. The comment startled me, even made me queasy as I questioned whether it implied internally racism. I’ve never heard an American deem a task as impossible for every American. No matter how great a feat, I always assume someone in the nation is capable or greedy enough to accomplish it. Yet in China, pessimism seems to be more in vogue. Multiple educated adults, including my dad, have extendedly lamented that “China’s moral education system is broken, possibly unfixable.” I used to brand this thought as Uniquely My Dad, but its pervasiveness has convinced me it is a common belief among the educated elite, even one that signals status. To criticize the Chinese education system is to deploy knowledge beyond a public education sponsored by the CCP, and perhaps even the result of critical thinking. For some, pessimism distinguishes them as thinkers instead of sheep.
Optimism isn’t a trait to be taken for granted or even universally positive. For all we know, the world is going to shit and believing in the future is denial. Yet optimism is crucial for creating the self delusion that drives paradigm-shifting impact, and it can be what saves us.