The Idealist 003 - Relentless Positivity ☀️
The world is in a pretty terrifying and depressing state right now. Or at least that’s what it appears through a certain lens.
You know the one: the endless dirge of the addictive news cycle pumping all of the worst new things happening around the world. Or the relentless echo chamber of people screaming into the void of social media. Or simply the mindset of thinking in the present when everything just seems so damn important and everything is happening right now.
Well, actually, things are pretty good! Maybe that’s the residual Vitamin D left in my bloodstream talking (yes, I’ve just come back from vacation and a work trip to sunny Mediterranean locales, hence the gap since the last edition) but maybe it”s also the truth. The one we don”t see through the lens of fear, social filter and short-termism.
Or maybe it’s precisely because things are pretty good right now that the bad things are more terrifying - because we fear losing what we’ve got… a very real response. But not necessarily a rational one.
So whatever the truth, because it makes life just a little lighter, today we”re going to throw off the shackles and embrace relentless positivity, for a change.
- 📈 Let’s take a step back. A huge step back. Viewed through the lens of history, nearly all important life indicators are heading in a positive direction as these wonderful graphs compiled by Max Roser, show. Counter-point and debate over on another Guardian Long Read.
- 📰 Next up: let”s change our media diet. The Positive News magazine is an outlet with rose-tinted glasses firmly glued to the noses of all their journalists. They pluck some wonderful stories out of the world…
- 💡 You know what else is awesome? PHYSICS. And in the most traditional sense of the word. I had a number of WOAH WTF moments by the pool on vacation (and not just wondering why my entire life is not oriented around 30 degrees and a 20sqm patch of water) driven by Carlo Rovelli’s book “Reality Is Not What It Seems”. It acts as a poetic solliloquy of the scientific ideal, an introduction to the wacky world of quantum mechanics and relativity theory, and a mind-bending challenge to reality (not, our perception of it… that’s another thing entirely). Highly recommended.
- 📚 That was one of four books conquered on holiday. Instead of list them all here (although book recommendations always forthcoming), check out this classic ode to the joy of reading from the New Yorker instead.
- 🎨 This is an easy six minutes of your day to give over to a charming look inside the artistic refuge of Jim Carey in this short documentary.
- 🇨🇳 China and the Lawyer may sound like a dull John Grisham book but it is in fact a story that is one of the more positive things you’ll read about approaches to climate change.
- 🐻 And finally, a dark look at the light side of life (or is that a light look at the dark side of life) can only be delivered by the prophet that is Werner Herzog. Last week was his birthday and that means hashtags. Go dive deep into some of the best #Twertzogisms.