Dr. Jamil Zaki

We're living inside this crisis layer cake and you're telling me to be hopeful. It sounds ridiculous and even harmful. I think that folks who say that might be confusing hope with optimism. So optimism is the belief that the future will turn out well. And optimists tend to be pretty happy, but they can also be a little bit complacent, right?

We're living inside this crisis layer cake and you're telling me to be hopeful. It sounds ridiculous and even harmful. I think that folks who say that might be confusing hope with optimism. So optimism is the belief that the future will turn out well. And optimists tend to be pretty happy, but they can also be a little bit complacent, right?

So if you think a bright future is on its way, you can kind of just sit on your couch and wait for its arrival. Hope is different. Hope is the idea that the future could turn out well, or at least better than it is, but that we don't know, right? And in that deep uncertainty, our actions matter, right? Because it could turn out well or very poorly. And so we're Optimism can be complacent.

So if you think a bright future is on its way, you can kind of just sit on your couch and wait for its arrival. Hope is different. Hope is the idea that the future could turn out well, or at least better than it is, but that we don't know, right? And in that deep uncertainty, our actions matter, right? Because it could turn out well or very poorly. And so we're Optimism can be complacent.

So if you think a bright future is on its way, you can kind of just sit on your couch and wait for its arrival. Hope is different. Hope is the idea that the future could turn out well, or at least better than it is, but that we don't know, right? And in that deep uncertainty, our actions matter, right? Because it could turn out well or very poorly. And so we're Optimism can be complacent.

Hope is a deeply action-oriented emotion, right? It guides us to fight for something better. And you see hope really at the core of, for instance, activist movements throughout history and around the world. So hope is not ignoring our problems. In fact, it's facing them head on and saying the status quo is unacceptable. But there are many people, maybe most people,

Hope is a deeply action-oriented emotion, right? It guides us to fight for something better. And you see hope really at the core of, for instance, activist movements throughout history and around the world. So hope is not ignoring our problems. In fact, it's facing them head on and saying the status quo is unacceptable. But there are many people, maybe most people,

Hope is a deeply action-oriented emotion, right? It guides us to fight for something better. And you see hope really at the core of, for instance, activist movements throughout history and around the world. So hope is not ignoring our problems. In fact, it's facing them head on and saying the status quo is unacceptable. But there are many people, maybe most people,

in the world who want something better, who want greater peace, equality, and sustainability. So I'm going to fight because I believe that that fight can produce something that most of us want. Yeah.

in the world who want something better, who want greater peace, equality, and sustainability. So I'm going to fight because I believe that that fight can produce something that most of us want. Yeah.

in the world who want something better, who want greater peace, equality, and sustainability. So I'm going to fight because I believe that that fight can produce something that most of us want. Yeah.

My favorite quote on hope comes from, honestly, my favorite writer about hope, Rebecca Solnit, who says, hope is not a lottery ticket you clutch waiting for good luck. It's an ax you break down doors with in an emergency. Oh, she's so good.

My favorite quote on hope comes from, honestly, my favorite writer about hope, Rebecca Solnit, who says, hope is not a lottery ticket you clutch waiting for good luck. It's an ax you break down doors with in an emergency. Oh, she's so good.

My favorite quote on hope comes from, honestly, my favorite writer about hope, Rebecca Solnit, who says, hope is not a lottery ticket you clutch waiting for good luck. It's an ax you break down doors with in an emergency. Oh, she's so good.

You nailed it. That's exactly right. So I think that cynics consider naive optimists, people who think everything is great, as the opposite of themselves. In fact, I think they have a lot in common. Both groups of people think they know the future. They think they know humanity and they don't have to do anything because of that. Right. So there's two things.

You nailed it. That's exactly right. So I think that cynics consider naive optimists, people who think everything is great, as the opposite of themselves. In fact, I think they have a lot in common. Both groups of people think they know the future. They think they know humanity and they don't have to do anything because of that. Right. So there's two things.

You nailed it. That's exactly right. So I think that cynics consider naive optimists, people who think everything is great, as the opposite of themselves. In fact, I think they have a lot in common. Both groups of people think they know the future. They think they know humanity and they don't have to do anything because of that. Right. So there's two things.

One is certainty about how the future will turn out. And the other is complacency. As we've talked about, a naive optimist might be complacent because they think everything's going to be great. But a cynic also turns out to be pretty complacent. You can think of it as a dark complacency. Everything's going to be awful. So there's nothing really that I have to do. And you see this, right?

One is certainty about how the future will turn out. And the other is complacency. As we've talked about, a naive optimist might be complacent because they think everything's going to be great. But a cynic also turns out to be pretty complacent. You can think of it as a dark complacency. Everything's going to be awful. So there's nothing really that I have to do. And you see this, right?

One is certainty about how the future will turn out. And the other is complacency. As we've talked about, a naive optimist might be complacent because they think everything's going to be great. But a cynic also turns out to be pretty complacent. You can think of it as a dark complacency. Everything's going to be awful. So there's nothing really that I have to do. And you see this, right?