Optimism in a Post-Truth Era

One of my favorite newsletters to read each week is Investing 101 by Kyle Harrison . Last week's issue in particular hit home for me and explored the constant cultural battle between those with a glass-half-full view of the world and those with a glass-half-empty outlook. This sent me down a rabbit hole reading his previous newsletters (two examples here and here ) on the topic of optimism and the importance of dreaming and believing in the future you want to see. Highly recommend reading and giving both Kyle and Investing 101 a follow (links above).?His work inspired my thoughts below.

I'll start with a confession.

The great personal irony for me is that up until recently, if I was being honest with myself, I would have fallen into the “glass-half-empty” camp described by Kyle in his newsletter. The irony being that this is not a worldview you can have as a founder. To build something truly great you have to believe in both a better future, and your ability to create that future. I saw the rapid developments in AI, and as excited as I was for all that it would unlock for humanity, all I could think about was the bleak future we were creating where we would no longer be able to trust anything we see or hear ever again.

I think optimism can be hard for many young people.

I can certainly empathize. We look at the world around us and see all that is wrong. We see geriatric, corrupt, politicians in Washington selling our future (that they won’t be alive to participate in) on behalf of support from their (also corrupt) party today and money from any number of shady organizations. We look at the economy and increasingly are dismayed by our odds of ever being able to own a home. We see the environment being destroyed. We see violence. We see developments in technology that were hailed as the next great thing fall short or even worse negatively impact those it was supposed to serve. And we see all of this 24/7/365 front and center online and across all of our social feeds.?

Many young people see those who are optimistic as naive and are disillusioned with the world around them. Not that skepticism towards a glass-half-full outlook is an entirely new concept. One of my favorite authors who I have quoted before, Voltaire, defined optimism in his 1759 book Candide as “the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst.” I think that this perfectly encapsulates how many people view those who “look on the bright side”.

On perhaps the other end of the spectrum as far as quote sources go, is a line from Rick and Morty that I feel is an accurate representation of how many people today live their lives as a result of internalizing this sentiment: “Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere. We’re all going to die. Come watch TV.” Many young people are going through life passive and pessimistic, resigned to the gradual decline in the world around them and content to maximize their own pleasure and existence until the end they see as inevitable comes.

So what changed for me??

I wish it was something inspiring like “Be the change you want to see in the world” - Not Gandhi? While there is some truth to this, I think I also realized that I was sick of letting the world happen to me. I wanted to leave a mark on the world and feel like I’m the captain of my own destiny. I wanted to look at what I consider to be one of the largest problems facing humanity today and say “Nope. Not today”. I wanted to be the one to create the future I wanted to live in.?

Being pessimistic is easy.

It requires no work. It’s an abdication of responsibility. If I don’t believe in a better future, then I have no obligation to make the future better. It’s also easy to find supporting evidence for this viewpoint in the world around us. Examples of bad things going on around the world are in ready supply.?

However, if I believe in my ability to actually make some change in the world, then I am now responsible for the future being created, for better or worse. And if I do nothing, then I have to live with the fact that the future I have to live in, and the future of those around me that I care about, is worse off as a direct result of my inaction.

Therefore, I HAVE to be an optimist.

I HAVE to believe in a better future because if I don’t, I am accountable for that becoming a reality. Even if I fail, I can feel like at least for a moment, I was the man in the arena.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” - Teddy Roosevelt

I found a kindred spirit in Aman Ibrahim , someone I consider to be a visionary leader and technical wizard, and together we have founded DeepTrust where we have set out to unlock the potential of AI for the world, and defend humanity from what we see as the largest negative effect of its development: The inability to trust everything we see and hear. Call us naive, but we truly believe we can mitigate the risk of having to live in a “post-truth” world.?

I believe I can make a difference and effect change. Because why not me? For that matter, why not YOU?

This brings us to the point of this blog:

There is reason for optimism in a post-truth era.

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” - G. Michael Hopf

Adversity is good. Adversity makes us better. For every great challenge that has appeared, humanity has risen to the occasion. Even if we (DeepTrust) fail in taking on this particular challenge (we won’t), someone else will succeed.?

The thing is that humans are lazy. Unless we are required to overcome adversity, we are content to do nothing and our collective society atrophies as a result. AI is ushering in a great future, but also great adversity. The good news is that, like always, we will overcome this adversity and be better because of it.

Here are a couple of (corny?) motivational quotes that drive this point home.

From Jocko Willink’s podcast :

“When things are going bad: Don’t get all bummed out, don’t get started, don’t get frustrated. No. Just look at the issue and say: “Good.” Now, I don’t mean to say something trite; I’m not trying to sound like Mr. Smiley Positive Guy. That guy ignores the hard truth. That guy thinks a positive attitude will solve problems. It won’t. But neither will dwelling on the problem. No. Accept reality, but focus on the solution. Take that issue, take that setback, take that problem, and turn it into something good. Go forward. And, if you are part of a team, that attitude will spread throughout.”

From Jensen Huang’s talk to Stanford students:

“I hope suffering happens to you... greatness comes from character & character... is formed out of people who suffered... I wish upon you ample doses of pain & suffering"

I’ll close with why YOU should be optimistic in the face of what appears to be a post-truth era.

It’s not.

It’s that simple. We are here to mitigate all of the risks stemming from generative AI and ensure that people won’t have to live (and work) in a post-truth world. We are here to ensure that you can trust what you see and hear again. What does this mean for you? It means that you will get to reap all the rewards and benefits associated with an AI driven future without worrying that generative AI and deepfakes will be used to scam you and your family, breach your business, falsify court evidence, or alter elections.

We got you.

As stated at the end of my previous blog that went in depth on the problem we are taking on, DeepTrust is building the trust layer for the internet with the goal of authenticating all content across all channels and industries.

So what does this mean for you? It means regardless of what your use case is, we are going to be able to help. We are starting with voice. We have cutting edge AI models that can detect AI generated voices so you can trust what (and who) you hear again. Calls? No problem. Recordings? Videos? We got you. If you need a way to determine if what you’re hearing is real, we can help.

So be optimistic. The future is bright, and it will be brighter even still if you dare to be an optimist in the midst of a cynical world, believe in a better future, and take steps to create that world you want to live in.

I’ll see you in the arena.

If you’re interested in learning more about what we are building at DeepTrust, I’d love to chat. Feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] or book time with me here . Want to get started? Sign up here !