Happy New Year 2005: Is The Future Better?
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By Glen Hiemstra and Brenda Cooper, 2004
Will our children create a better world than the one we live in today? Hard to say, but I think the best answer is ‘yes.’ Why? Because a positive belief is a better starting place for making decisions than a negative one. A person with a core belief that tomorrow will be worse than today will have a harder time coming up with ideas or actions that result in a better tomorrow. This is, of course, the old optimist/pessimist dichotomy. It is, perhaps, the real dichotomy tearing at our nation.
“So why did we violate the second of those decisions and directly state what we dislike about the current administration? I think, really, because of how strongly we believe in a positive future.”
David Brin recently wrote an article suggesting that the recent election reflects a division between those who believe in a positive future vs. those who don’t, rather than a left/right political axis. We’d like to encourage you to read the article.
Back now? Did you like the article? We don’t necessarily agree with every point David makes, or think all of his ideas will work. But the main thesis resonates with us. About a month ago, Glen posted a letter to the futurist news group that came right out and stated that we are very disappointed about the 2004 election, while Brenda posted the lead article asking whether history teaches that insurgents in Iraq are likely to win, in the long run. Glen went to on to say that we believe Bush administration policies are frequently not good for our long-term future. Many readers complained. But we both stand by Glen’s statement.
Long ago, we made two (of many) conscious decisions about Futurist.com.
- The first is that we would reflect something that we and our families both held to be true long before we started discussing the future together: It is possible to create a better future. We have tried to reflect that in the tone of our writing at Futurist.com. Not to be Pollyannas, but to be positive. For more on related decisions, see Futurist.com’s core beliefs.
- A second decision was to pretty much avoid directly talking about politics in any short-term way, to avoid taking political stances. Our job as futurists is generally thinking long-term about the future rather than worrying about short-term shifts in politics, and why alienate people we want to have in the conversation that goes on at Futurist.com?
So why did we violate the second of those decisions and directly state what we dislike about the current administration? I think, really, because of how strongly we believe in a positive future. Because we are so sure that believing in a positive future is a key to growth, both individually and as a nation.
Whether you see yourself as a democrat or a republican, whether you’ve been labeled red or blue, conservative or liberal, this is a good time to assess your belief about this same thing. Do you believe the world’s collective children can have a better future than our generation? Do you believe the same for our nation’s children, for your individual children if you have them? How will it be better? What will tomorrow’s world feel and smell and taste like? What might you do to help affect the future so it is more positive? In part two of his article, David proposes a number of ideas for action. Are those attractive? Do you have different or better ideas? Try our new blog to post your thoughts.
We are nearing a new year. A year in which many people who have a lot of power seem to believe the world has been going the wrong way, and that it needs some correction to a ‘better’ past. We believe the arrow of time does not move backward, and that regardless of whether or not the past was good, the place we face is the future. As we move into 2005, we encourage every Futurist.com reader to look forward, to talk and dream about a better future.
We wish you all a happy new year.
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