Disaster or a more beautiful world?
Right now, we are at a threshold.
- Not everything is getting worse (as Steven Pinker likes to point out)
- Also, not everything is getting better (for example, a look at the climate charts suggests)
Things are getting better and worse at the same time. Depending on the parameters we look at. In general, research shows that when things are better and worse, the whole system becomes more fragile and is threatened by collapse.
- Right now, we don’t only have the responsibility to make things better. But we also have the responsibility to figure out which things we want to make better and which parameters we use. We can do this for our own lives by defining our values and living according to those values. We can do this on a societal level by appreciative, open, nuanced, and cooperative dialogue.