Paradise is not lost, the world is not ending, and most material metrics of humanity have never been better. Yet the endless, incessant dooming about the climate, the inequality, and AI is everywhere. We may have killed God, but we clearly didn't bury the devil's anxieties with him.
\nYes, we're born with a negativity bias to keep us safe from starvation, saber-toothed tigers, and rival tribes. Good! But you don't have to let your caveman instincts run your whole life. The gift of fear — when the threat is credible and immediate! — is a key survival mechanism. This vague, fuzzy dooming about everything outside your control is not.
\nIn fact, nothing will make you more miserable than ruminating over climate tigers, other people's wealth, or thinking machines. Because rumination will break your brain and render it unfit for the purpose of living.
\nIf it turns out that The Terminator really is coming to get you, you'll have gained nothing from the upfront neurotic fretting. And if The Terminator fails to appear, you will have squandered your precious time missing the intelligence boom and the creativity abundance that AI has and will unleash.
\nLikewise, if the climate really is doomed, you're not going to stop that spiral by planting another windmill or choking on a paper straw. Game theory has already seen to it that rival superpowers will accelerate their quest for power. None of the climate doomer nonsense Europe has wrung it hands about in the last thirty years has managed to curb the growth in global emissions (but it did wreck the continent's economy!).
\nFinally, envy sits among the seven of deadly sins for a reason. Because freeloader thinking is also a primordial survival tactic, and it sneaks into your psyche when your disappointment with the outcome of your efforts overcomes your rational mind.
\nThere have always been "winners" and "losers", and most of history had the majority of humanity live in abject poverty. The mystery is not "why are some people poor" but "why are some people not". And you won't find the answer to the latter in grievance soups of sorrow and self-pity.
\nThis is not the time to doom, baby. This is the time to bloom. Intellectually, spiritually, and productively. Put down your anxieties, arrest your neurotic impulses, and decide to be happy about the present, the future, and your own ability to make something of yourself and this world.
\n", "content_markdown": "Paradise is not lost, the world is not ending, and most material metrics of humanity have never been better. Yet the endless, incessant dooming about the climate, the inequality, and AI is everywhere. We may have [killed God](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/22827-god-is-dead-god-remains-dead-and-we-have-killed), but we clearly didn't bury the devil's anxieties with him.\n\nYes, we're born with a negativity bias to keep us safe from starvation, saber-toothed tigers, and rival tribes. Good! But you don't have to let your caveman instincts run your whole life. The [gift of fear](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0440226198) — when the threat is credible and immediate! — is a key survival mechanism. This vague, fuzzy dooming about everything outside your control is not.\n\nIn fact, nothing will make you more miserable than ruminating over climate tigers, other people's wealth, or thinking machines. Because [rumination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumination_\\(psychology\\)) will break your brain and render it unfit for the purpose of living.\n\nIf it turns out that The Terminator really is coming to get you, you'll have gained nothing from the upfront neurotic fretting. And if The Terminator fails to appear, you will have squandered your precious time missing the intelligence boom and the creativity abundance that AI has and will unleash.\n\nLikewise, if the climate really is doomed, you're not going to stop that spiral by planting another windmill or choking on a paper straw. Game theory has already seen to it that rival superpowers will accelerate their quest for power. None of the climate doomer nonsense Europe has wrung it hands about in the last thirty years has managed to curb the growth in global emissions (but it did wreck the continent's economy!).\n\nFinally, envy sits among the seven of deadly sins for a reason. Because freeloader thinking is also a primordial survival tactic, and it sneaks into your psyche when your disappointment with the outcome of your efforts overcomes your rational mind.\n\nThere have always been \"winners\" and \"losers\", and most of history had the majority of humanity live in abject poverty. The [mystery](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oqmF2hIs4es) is not \"why are some people poor\" but \"why are some people not\". And you won't find the answer to the latter in grievance soups of sorrow and self-pity.\n\nThis is not the time to doom, baby. This is the time to bloom. Intellectually, spiritually, and productively. Put down your anxieties, arrest your neurotic impulses, and [decide to be happy](https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Be-Disliked-Phenomenon-Happiness-ebook/dp/B078MDSV8T/) about the present, the future, and your own ability to make something of yourself and this world.\n", "dateCreated": "2026-10-05T18:49:38.624325496+00:00", "date_created": "2026-10-05T13:30:45+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-10-05T13:30:45+00:00", "date_published": "2026-10-05T13:30:45+00:00", "description": "Paradise is not lost, the world is not ending, and most material metrics of humanity have never been better. Yet the endless, incessant dooming about the climate, the inequality, and AI is everywhere. We may have killed God, but we clearly…", "external_url": "https://world.hey.com/dhh/what-on-earth-are-you-dooming-about-386cc1da", "git": { "commit": "ebb0941c5c06a2ab2377342d607535262a3e969e", "path": "items/world-hey-com/2026/10/2026-10-05-what-on-earth-are-you-dooming-about.md", "permalink": "https://github.com/aymericbeaumet/aggr-instance/blob/ebb0941c5c06a2ab2377342d607535262a3e969e/items/world-hey-com/2026/10/2026-10-05-what-on-earth-are-you-dooming-about.md" }, "id": "urn:aggr:item:dda92a30aba6433258c1cd4b746322856374222d", "isBasedOn": { "@id": "https://world.hey.com/dhh/what-on-earth-are-you-dooming-about-386cc1da" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://world.hey.com/dhh/what-on-earth-are-you-dooming-about-386cc1da", "@type": "CreativeWork", "archivedAt": { "@id": "https://aggr.aymericbeaumet.com/items/world-hey-com/2026-10-05-what-on-earth-are-you-dooming-about/#webpage" }, "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "David Heinemeier Hansson" } ], "dateModified": "2026-10-05T13:30:45+00:00", "datePublished": "2026-10-05T13:30:45+00:00", "headline": "What on earth are you dooming about?", "timeRequired": "PT2M", "url": "https://world.hey.com/dhh/what-on-earth-are-you-dooming-about-386cc1da", "wordCount": 405 }, "name": "Archived snapshot: What on earth are you dooming about?", "preview": null, "reading_minutes": 2, "replicated_at": null, "source": "world-hey-com", "source_name": "David Heinemeier Hansson", "summary": null, "tags": [], "temporalCoverage": "2026-10-05T18:49:38.624325496+00:00", "title": "What on earth are you dooming about?", "url": "https://aggr.aymericbeaumet.com/items/world-hey-com/2026-10-05-what-on-earth-are-you-dooming-about/", "word_count": 405 }