Optimism Against the End of Humans

It’s time to stop worrying, accept, and work with the hands we’ve dealt ourselves. We may just find that by doing so, we’ll have more time and creative energy to build solutions for human life post climate-catastrophe (or even AI dominance).

Like so many of you, I've read countless articles and many books that could charitably be called "climate catastrophism". Words like "uninhabitable", "end", and "destruction" feature prominently. "Solution", "hope" and "plan" rarely do - and that is a problem for our children, and ourselves. Research suggests that until 2030 our collective anxiety about the climate catastrophe may be?as bad — for the economy, society, and the planet — as the issue itself.?

Should we all take out the recycling, turn down the heat, and fly less? Absolutely. Should we become vegans? It would be better if we did. Should we support those who glue themselves to streets to raise awareness for the coming climate apocalypse? Perhaps.

But we should also not fret about the unavoidable. At least two degrees of warming is all but certain at this point.

Reversing growth would be effective, but it’s socially, economically, and politically untenable. Carbon capture and sequestration, and some even more bold (untested)?moonshots?provide some hope. But our hope shouldn’t be tied to any one technology or measure. Our hope should be tied to the ingenuity of the human spirit, our collective resilience, and the creativity of the human mind to "get on with it" - even if it means rebuilding.

I've begun a series of articles entitled "Musings on the End of Humans" (tongue firmly in cheek) to address the positivity deficit in the discourse around #ClimateChange, #AI, #Bioengineering, and #War. The above is an excerpt from one of these articles.

• Part 1: Musings, An Introduction
• Part 2: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Anthropocene

I have written (or co-written) four books that address critical issues in automotive, transportation, smart cities, the future of work, and automation. While sometimes brutal in tone and consequence ("Three Zeroes"), they also tended to provide a positive perspective and potential solutions: for the affected industries, investors, fleet managers, cities, and startups. I've also actively worked with more than a dozen startups on operationalising solutions - rather than lament on the problems.

By no means do I intend to discount the severity of some of our crises. But I feel we need to moderate discussion, bend away from catastrophism, and shift our focus toward optimism and solutions.

Please feel free to follow me on Medium as well; I'll cross-post to LinkedIn and to Neckermann.net. Thank you to Axel Brohm , Steven Wood , and Manoj Pradhan who have provided initial comments on these articles.