In John Brockman's book, What Are You Optimistic About? most contributors wrote pages about scientific evidence on why the world is getting better. But my favorite entry was very different. Nicholas Humphrey, a philosopher, wrote about why the world as a whole is getting better. He says "If I had lived in the year 1007 and had been asked what I looked forward to for my decendents in the next millennium, I might have imagined many wonderful possibilities. But I would not - because I could not - have imagined the music of Mozart, the painting of Rothko, the sonnets of Shakespeare, the novels of Dostoyevsky. I would have failed to see one of the vest reasons of all for being optimistic, which is the power of human artistic genius to astonish us again and again. I will not make the same mistake twice. So let me say straight out: In 2007, I hope and expect that the best is yet to come, that greater works of art than any the world has ever seen will be created by human beings not far ahead of us - works of currently unimaginable aesthetic and moral force. And, mind you, it will not require genetic modification, computer hynridization, high-tect brain enhancement or whatever - it will simply require that we continue to be the kind of people we are."
When quoting Humphrey's short writing, I could not find anything to cut out. I felt his response was perfect and optimistic beyond any of the others I have read in the book so far. What makes me optimistic is the way he simply believes things will get better just because they always do. We do not need tons of new science to achieve a better world either. All we need is to keep trying to improve and to keep being extraordinary human beings. And I do not believe there is a statement out there that can top the optimism found in Humphrey's last phrase of his response. "It will simply require that we continue to be the kind of people we are."
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