Post #3416992

1/x “ Doom is not merely emotionally exhausting. It can be politically useful to the people causing the problem. The climate denier says nothing needs to be done because the crisis is fake. The climate doomer says nothing can be done because it is too late. ” Sami Shah This is a great article from Crikey — reads a little like Solnit’s book Hope in the Dark ——— The lucrative business of doom thrives on despair. Our duty is to hope Radical optimism is a decision about how to behave under uncertainty. It involves acting as though a better world is possible before we even have proof. [or as Gramsci would have said. Pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will – Carmel} Sami Shah Jun 26, 2026 6 min read ——- Australia is depressed. The national mood appears to be: everything is fucked, everyone else is dangerous, and the robot is coming for my job before the government gives it to an immigrant. According to the 2026 Lowy Institute poll, 59% of us are pessimistic about the economy over the next five years, a gloomier result than during either the global financial crisis or the pandemic; 47% feel safe when thinking about world events; 64% think the risks of AI outweigh the benefits; and support for cultural diversity has fallen from 90% to 73% in two years. Now, this is not a column arguing that everything is secretly wonderful. There are, obviously, reasons to be worried. Climate change is accelerating. Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine and too many other places offer daily proof that human beings can turn other human beings into statistics with horrific efficiency. AI companies are threatening to automate entire professions while conceding that the technology might also become sentient and murder us all. Inequality is obscene. Pauline Hanson’s popularity is spreading like a racist herpes outbreak. Donald Trump turned water green. In the face of all that, optimism feels almost like standing in a burning house and saying the flames look lovely against the curtains. But I’m still not enticed by the pessimism. Sure, it’s trendy right now: it’s acquired the status of intelligence. The person who says humanity is doomed sounds serious, informed and pleasingly immune to disappointment. The person who says we can still fix things sounds like they are about to sell you essential oils. Online, hope is treated as a failure to understand the evidence, while despair is proof you have read all the news and heard all the podcasts. /2