Considered optimism + Touch of humour = Just what we need

[Keebleman]

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/06/cheer-up.html

[sirhenry]

Good to see the opposite of BLM, if only to put the concept of white privilege into focus.

But fuck me, what a loathsome page.

[bgmnts]

I for one was never feeling down. We live on the leading edge of 200 years of progress, on a planet that has never been more peaceful, with a global economy that has never been stronger (except maybe very, very recently), and at a level of human freedom and potential unequaled, ever (if still uneven and far from perfect).

As the LEGO movie song says, everything is awesome! Even if your particular slice of it isn't perfect.

Nobody can actually genuinely think this can they?

[His Name Is Death]

Nobody can actually genuinely think this can they?

You can... if you're living in a tech nerd bubble.

Though that's not to say I don't broadly agree with it - to the extent that I'd rather live in this time than any other, but not that everything about it is awesome.

[Keebleman]

I cocked up by posting the link to the comments rather than the actual blog post.  Amended now.

[sirhenry]

And as for quoting the Lego movie song...

Saw the movie in the cinema with my kids. Even as the song was playing over the end credits we were heading out singing "Everything is awful, everything is shit If you think about it." because the original was such saccharine drivel that was absurd even for a Disney movie.

[GMTV]

If you don't care about the planet or the hundreds upon hundreds millions of people in desperate situations, then I'm sure from the wealthy 1% tech bubble this is probably as good as it'll ever be. Peak amazingness for a tiny group of people, at the expense of almost everyone else now, and probably everyone else in the future.

[Keebleman]

It's a pity that pessimism is still the default setting for those who want to appear wise.  There is of course no guarantee that things will continue to improve at the rate they have done over the last few hundred years.  There are many ways that progress could halt, or even reverse.  But I still think that the only people we should envy are those who will come after us.

[falafel]

And as for quoting the Lego movie song...

Saw the movie in the cinema with my kids. Even as the song was playing over the end credits we were heading out singing "Everything is awful, everything is shit If you think about it." because the original was such saccharine drivel that was absurd even for a Disney movie.

Well apart from everything it was skewering exactly that kind of nonsensical, mindless optimism. So it pains me to see people quote it in earnest.

There is a case (maybe a flimsy one) that is somehow manages to be both an extended advert for a toy and also a critique of the fundamental tenets of neoliberal capitalism.

Incidentally the sequel features an update which I think is called "everything's not awesome"

Not exactly Tolstoy but not as vapid as all that...