It’s difficult to defeat the overwhelming feeling of “There is no future (Or at least not a good one), so what’s the point?”. I feel like even if I live to 100 we’re not going to be anywhere close to a Star Trek utopia, but more smack dab in the middle of a Dark Age.
I’ve come across the idea of a “modest utopia” recently and really like it. It challenges us to reckon with the reality of an ever changing world. Even at the best of times, peace is something that must be actively built and maintained—a perpetual act of balance and not something we can ever stop thinking about or working towards. The idea of a modest utopia challenges us to think of realistic, pragmatic ways to improve the world within our immediate reach. It can take lots of studying to understand your material conditions, your place within the wider world and the ways you relate to it to be able to do that, but it’s a much more achievable goal and perhaps less prone to doomerism.
Of course I understand that anyone having a shred of empathy will still experience immense grief living in the world today and I’m not trying to minimise that or any suffering, but being a doomer actually just benefits the powers that be.