How Optimism Shapes the Future | 1min snip from The Tim Ferriss Show

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#669: Kevin Kelly — Excellent Advice for Living

The Tim Ferriss Show

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How Optimism Shapes the Future

Optimism plays a crucial role in shaping the future by enabling individuals to envision and believe in making their ideas a reality. History shows that progress often stems from the optimistic belief in possibility and the ability to imagine and create. While it is easier to foresee failures, embracing a positive outlook and working towards improbable success is where true innovation lies. Entrepreneurs are praised for defying the odds and imagining unlikely outcomes that eventually succeed. According to the Santa Fe complexity theory, the improbable nature of success highlights the significance of optimism in driving progress. Ultimately, optimists play a key role in shaping the future by envisioning, believing, and successfully bringing forth improbable yet transformative ideas.

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Brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs recruitment platform with 900M+ users, Pique premium pu’er tea crystals, and Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating.

Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly) helped launch and edit Wired magazine. He has written for The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, among many other publications.

He is the author of the new book Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier. Other books by Kevin Kelly include Out of Control, the 1994 classic book on decentralized emergent systems; The Silver Cord, a graphic novel about robots and angels; What Technology Wants, a robust theory of technology; Vanishing Asia, his 50-year project to photograph the disappearing cultures of Asia, and The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future, a New York Times bestseller.

Kevin is currently co-chair of The Long Now Foundation, which is building a clock in a mountain that will tick for 10,000 years. He also has a daily blog; a weekly podcast about cool tools; and a weekly newsletter, Recomendo, a free, one-page list of six very brief recommendations of cool stuff. He is also a Senior Maverick at Wired. He lives in Pacifica, California.

Please enjoy!

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[05:51] Is Kevin Kelly the most interesting man in the world?

[08:37] Kevin’s long bet against the human population.

[15:00] Out Of Control.

[19:34] Why did it take 11 years to complete The Silver Cord?

[24:28] 1,000 True Fans.

[29:48] Kevin’s failed campaign to discover all the species of life on Earth.

[31:31] Stewart Brand.

[36:20] Ressurecting extinct species.

[39:38] Why Kevin believes optimists shape the future.

[42:48] Active optimism vs. passive optimism.

[46:39] What constitutes progress?

[48:18] Is regression inevitable if we don’t embrace “degrowth?”