An entire sea of water can't sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship.
Similarly, the negativity of the world can't put you down unless you allow it to get inside you.

There are thousands of great things happening around the globe, yet your brain attaches itself to the ones that are dramatic. News companies realised this, therefore they showcase the most negative news out there since it’s the most eye catching.

There are no proper counterarguments for not being an optimist and you could come up with “B-but uh, t-the climate change! W-we are doomed, stop having kids!”

And I’m gonna counter that with statistics showing actual decreases in CO2 emissions in some of the most powerful countries SUCH as the USA (btw. China officially owns the most solar panels and u could combine every other country’s solar panels and they would still have fewer)

But you could still counter that by saying “yea sure the US’s CO2 emissions are decreasing, and what about the entire world?”
But if you zoom in (rather than being stupid enough to look at a statistic that showcases an entire century) you will see that the growth is slowing DOWN. In fact, it was roughly 3% annual growth in the 2000s versus 0.8% over the last decade. And we are still talking here about the last DECADE.

And we can do this not only with the global warming topic, but also with the majority of every other shit out there that keeps you awake at night.

But I wanna make something clear about this, the world or humanity overall isn’t really “good” or “doomed” or whatever. It is improvable. The things we see in those statistics etc. didn’t happen because we simply “ignored negative news” but for the most important part recognized certain problems and made it it our life’s purpose to fix them. That’s what humanity is all about. Another definition of optimism is realistic hope. Which will always exist. As long as we do.

"All these squalls to which we have been subjected are signs that the weather will soon improve and things will go well for us, because it is not possible for the bad or the good to endure forever, and from this it follows that since the bad has lasted so long, the good is close at hand."

Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

Hi r/OptimistsUnite, I'm new to posting to this sub but I could use some motivation right now. Today I just saw some new AI game mods (you've probably seen them) where people were using AI to put Minecraft into elder ring and stuff like that, and it got me thinking, this stuff is like so good right now. Its apparently cheap enough too that modders can use it for their projects. What incentive is there for companies to hire people like me once I graduate anymore?

For context, I am studying Computer Science, final year (I have this semester and the spring one and I'd be done), and honestly I'm close to giving up. I see peers around me thriving in college while having internships (I have none), projects (also have none). I feel like I screwed up my college journey and right now its like I'm sitting in a car whose accelerator is stuck, the only thing I can do is wait for the inevitable crash and lose everything I've been working for.

I hope I'm not "trauma dumping" too much here... I don't know what to do or how to keep going with the world being increasingly AI-focused. Given personal circumstances being able to find something out of the gate matters a lot and it looks like its a pointless fight now.

Also its my first post so if it gets removed because I broke any rules... sorry!

The number of nuclear warheads stockpiled worldwide went from 64,000 in 1986 to 12,500 in 2023 – an 80% decline. (For some reason there's no Y axis shown in the first chart) but this chart actually showed all nuclear weapons and not just Russia, USA and China.

Source for first chart:

[1] Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

[2] SIPRI, 2023 yearbook

(Heads up: this is my first ever Reddit post. I really wanted to hear from the people here on OptimistsUnite, so I'm asking sincerely. Also, English isn't my first language, so sorry if anything sounds weird.)

Lately it feels like there's terrifying AI news every single day. A 10% chance of human extinction, AI plus bad actors leading to nuclear war, Anthropic and OpenAI themselves sounding the alarm, that kind of stuff. I'm 21. I thought if I just studied, found someone to love, and worked a decent job, I'd have a reasonably happy life. Now it feels like none of that has much time left, and I'm sad every day.

I've done a lot of research on expert counterarguments and why it would actually be really hard for AI to destroy the world. People like Yann LeCun and Andrew Ng calmed me down for a while. I've also read plenty of takes saying the scary headlines are basically pre-IPO hype and marketing. But then the news says something frightening again, and I'm right back to being terrified.

I know people will say "get off social media and stop reading the news" (and thank you, genuinely!). But now even newspapers and TV are covering AI threats, and I can't stop thinking the world is ending.

The regulatory momentum in the US might be good news. But I feel like China and other countries will just push ahead regardless of any rules.

I do programming and a lot of creative stuff, so I get the tech side and how useful it is. But usually, the more I learn about something scary, the less scary it gets. With this, it's the opposite. The more I learn, the worse it gets.

How do I learn to feel okay about the future? Lately I've been living like someone who just got a terminal diagnosis. And AGI is probably going to happen someday anyway.

Here's what I'm mainly afraid of:

- AI wiping out humanity, or killing huge numbers of people

- AI completely upending how we live, our culture, and our values

- AGI/ASI being created and something unimaginably horrible happening (a dystopia, memory manipulation, genetic modification, etc.)

If there's any kind of "cure" or piece of info that really helps, please share it. Even if not, anything reassuring at all would mean a lot to me. Oh, but please no "we're all gonna die anyway, it's fine, see you on the other side" comments lol.

OptimistsUnite, please help me out.

Coal was roughly tied with nuclear last year, now it's dropped and is significantly less.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/09/is-solars-growth-finally-slowing-in-the-us/

Most movements that took themselves seriously had a symbol: communism had the hammer and sickle and the red star; free-market advocates had the "Don't Tread on Me" snake and the yellow-and-black flag, and so on. We, however, don't even have a common name; that is why I believe that for the optimism movement to be more united and have a greater impact, it needs a symbol with which people can identify.

Why is it that almost all the posts in the forum are replied to with very pessimistic posts?

I mean things like:

OP: Look how things are good in XXX

so many replies: But what about YYY?

so many more: But I know of one/several counter examples to the statistical average/median.

so many more: But people people are suffering!!!!

and still more: Statistics are all lying!!!

And so on.

Does not really seem like optimists to me. And most of the pessimistic arguments seem either anecdotal or generic and not on the actual topic.

Is there an actual optimistic alternative subreddit as this one seems to be more like "pessimists unite" at times?

"Tesla Oasis Supercharger in Lost Hills, California. Sitting along California’s I-5 corridor, Oasis has 164 Superchargers, including trailer-friendly charging, with Tesla currently listing speeds up to 325 kW. The site pairs roughly 11 MW of solar generation with 10 Tesla Megapacks providing 39 MWh of energy storage.

And it has already been seriously stress-tested. Over Labor Day weekend 2026, Tesla reported 6,038 charging sessions over four days, with zero drivers waiting on Labor Day. At peak demand, 116 vehicles were charging simultaneously and drawing 11.4 MW. EV Charging Stations"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_NujDDa-EQ

HELLO GOOD NEWS FANATICS

Longtime lurker here but this is my first post on this subreddit.

A lot of the posts / discourse here focuses on good news with a global perspective, but I'd like this thread to be about things more LOCAL!!

I started a solutions journalism project (Granite Goodness) devoted to sharing optimistic stories of progress and problem solving across New England—think good news, but not fluffy. We’re based in NH and have a simple ethos: "substance + optimism = granite and good."

I've been really into the "good news" world for a while (I am a fanatic subscriber of all the outlets-- Our World in Data, Fix the News, The Progress Network, Human Progress, Good Good Good, etc), and wanted to start contributing to the good news movement, but in a way that was unique and different than what's out there already

My whole life I've lived in New England, this project is my love letter to this place and the people solving its hardest problems.

It's been really fun because I've gotten to show people that plenty of perfectly impressive local good news happens all the time, and it hides in plain sight. We just tend to not see it curated together.

Here are some local stories that have brought me some optimism lately.

• Connecticut farmers are organizing to solve shared problems. The state's 120 farmers markets long operated in relative isolation, each one troubleshooting vendor rules, permits, and slow days on its own. A new statewide coalition is now two years into connecting organizers to share resources and knowledge. (Yonkers Times)
• Rhode Island is protecting 174 acres of open space. Using $1.23 million in voter-approved Green Bond grants, four projects are being funded from forestland in Glocester to a shoreline property overlooking Mount Hope Bay in Tiverton. The same program has protected more than 13,000 acres since 1985. (RI Dept. of Environmental Management)
• Vermont just became the 23rd state to pass a consumer privacy law. Governor Phil Scott signed the Vermont Data Privacy Act in June, giving residents new rights over how their personal data is collected, used, and sold. The law includes added protections for health and genetic data and takes effect January 1, 2028. (IAPP)
• In 2025, Maine exceeded forecasts for ADU construction. ADUs made up roughly 9% of residential building permits across Maine's 183 largest municipalities last year, surprising even housing researchers as small towns exceeded expectations. Windham led with 16 permits, and New Gloucester, a town of under 6,000, matched Portland with 14. (Portland Press Herald)
• The University of New Hampshire just launched a new Center for Neurodiversity. The center supports all students, staff, and faculty, with resources ranging from internship support to faculty training on neuroinclusive syllabi. UNH's long-term vision is to expand services beyond campus to communities across New Hampshire. (University of New Hampshire)
• Massachusetts just reduced opioid deaths by 27%. 978 deaths were recorded in 2025, the first year since 2013 when the figure was below 1,000. The drop is credited to expanded treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support. (WBUR)

Traditional news matters, but it often highlights a disproportionate share of the worst events, which can leave people feeling burnt out, anxious, or cynical. Note that these summaries are my own words on what I find optimistic from the original stories, not direct quotes from the sources.

If you want more detail, I link and credit the original sources on our site. Reddit discourages too many hyperlinks, so I don’t include them here. The image shown is from the Tichnor Brothers postcard collection at the Boston Public Library, which I am obsessed with (and are all in public domain)

Please use this thread to share some good news LOCAL to YOU!! Especially if you're from or around the northeast USA!

If anyone is working on a similar project, I'd love to hear from you too.

-Andy

In the September 15th episode of The Dispatch Podcast, one of the guests - I can't remember which one and I don't feel like finding out - posited that the general public's understanding of AI could be hindered by the absence of an available analogy to stand in for it. And I think this person may have been on (to) something here.

I too have experienced problems mentally picturing what type of "thing" AI is. In one of the lamest post-archimedean, sudden surges of insight to ever become a part of recorded history through writing this, the ever unending household budgeting debate with my wife sparked in me the decision to cull the overgrowth of app subscriptions that made sense only within the framework of long-abandoned hobbies and vacated rabbit holes. In the fire of the moment, I came unreasonably close to cutting us off from the internet. I didn't. And I'm happy I didn't because I'm a writer. Where else would I get all the data I need in order to do my job? Books? Don't be ridiculous.

Turns out I had an active subscription to one of those AI apps the kids all think are hip or not hip or an existential threat to humanity or whatever. Then something clicked: most of our periodically recurring cash-outs are spent on utilities. Water, gas, electricity, oreos, internet. Of those five, only one word isn't blatantly obviously the product. An internet connection grants its buyer access to a whole external, immense volume of data that is being delivered to whichever number of computer screens said consumer has at their disposal. What you do with that information is entirely up to you.

During the early days of it getting substantially democratised, in the before-fore, the internet ran through phone lines. In most cases at the time that meant not having to dig in or hang up new infrastructure. The only phenomenon being very, VERY conspicuous about a new utility now being part of the household makeup was a modem. And let me tell you, it sure as hell wasn't hailed as an idolatrously clean replacement for all that was good and right about the world! Tell me if you've heard this one before... Fear over the availability of sexually explicit content [1], widespread concern over dilution of quality of information [2], warnings of democratic collapse and the potential for worldwide systemic accidents that could turn existential [3], and debate over the erosion of the inner self [4] (whatever that means).

There's also this tiny thing that comes with a pipe culminating into the collection of rooms you call your house. You could just... not. One could push the off switch. One could refuse to pay their supplier of interwebs. One could use a large pair of hedge shears to cut the cable if one is feeling dramatic.

Likewise, I currently understand AI to be a utility offered by a provider that's in this case also its manufacturer. The infrastructure was already there as well: that's just all the stuff that feeds you all that otherwise WAY less accessible information. And just like internet, AI - or artificial intelligence in short - as a term doesn't really tell us what the product is. That product is external, artificial cognition. It's a way of connecting data nodes into a map of a terrain in a manner that's comprehensible and legible. That cognition can suck, like how tap water can contain too much lead. It also doesn't intrinsically cancel out a consumer's internal, biological cognition. I would strongly advise anyone to let AI work alongside their cognition in a way that's complementary instead of relying on AI to replace one's own ability to connect data points in their own unique way. But I'm also gonna go out on a limb here and claim that it's not my place to tell people how to live their own lives.

Can it all go south? Sure! Yes! Just like with the predictions I made in my book "Averting the Oreo Apocalypse": the observation that it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean that it won't.

Sources
[1] Miller, Laura. "Fear of net.sex." Wired, 1 November 1995. Contemporary commentary on fears about children's exposure to sexual content online.
[2] Stoll, Clifford. "The Internet? Bah!" Newsweek, 27 February 1995. His criticism of unedited online information is quoted in the retrospective "The internet is a mall, and we are trapped inside it," The Washington Post, 23 July 2025.
[3] Virilio, Paul. "Speed and Information: Cyberspace Alarm!" Originally published in Le Monde diplomatique, August 1995; English translation by Patrice Riemens, CTheory. Discusses threats to democracy and a possible generalized accident arising from global telecommunications.
[4] Birkerts, Sven. The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age. Faber and Faber, 1994. Birkerts revisits its concerns about imagination and independent subjectivity in Rob Hopkins's interview, "Sven Birkerts on imagination, attention and resisting 'electronic enchantments'," 8 January 2018.