People · Intelligent optimists

The people who build tomorrow.

Scientists, inventors and thinkers, past and present, who looked at hard problems and saw solutions. Not blind hope: reason, evidence and action.

Intelligent optimists today

Eight voices shaping the future.

David DeutschProblems are soluble

David Deutsch

Physicist, University of Oxford

Pioneer of quantum computing. In The Beginning of Infinity he argues that good explanations let us solve problem after problem, without limit.

Nick BostromLong-term thinking

Nick Bostrom

Philosopher

Co-founded the World Transhumanist Association and led Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute. He asks how technology can give us better minds, bodies and lives, and how to keep it safe.

Aubrey de GreyAgeing is solvable

Aubrey de Grey

Biogerontologist

Co-founded the SENS Research Foundation and now leads the LEV Foundation. He sees ageing as a medical problem that science can learn to treat.

Ray KurzweilExponential thinking

Ray Kurzweil

Inventor and futurist

Pioneer of speech recognition and reading machines, now at Google. Author of The Singularity Is Nearer (2024) on how AI will extend what humans can do.

Jason SilvaAwe as fuel

Jason Silva

Filmmaker and host

Host of NatGeo's Brain Games and creator of Shots of Awe. A self-described wonder junkie who makes short films about the awe of ideas.

Peter DiamandisAbundance

Peter Diamandis

Engineer, physician, entrepreneur

Founder of the XPRIZE Foundation and co-founder of Singularity University. Co-author of Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think.

Steven PinkerReason and progress

Steven Pinker

Psychologist, Harvard University

Showed in The Better Angels of Our Nature and Enlightenment Now that violence has fallen and well-being has risen over the long run.

Elon MuskMoonshots

Elon Musk

Engineer and entrepreneur

Leads SpaceX and Tesla. Reusable rockets cut the cost of reaching space, and his stated goal is to make humans a multi-planet species.

Optimists from the past

2,300 years of believing we can do better.

Epicurus
341–270 BC

Epicurus

Taught that philosophy can free us from fear and show us how to find happiness in almost any situation.

Francis Bacon
1561–1626

Francis Bacon

An early voice of the scientific method. He would not accept that our ignorance was fixed: knowledge could grow, and lives with it.

Baruch Spinoza
1632–1677

Baruch Spinoza

Believed the human mind could come to know nature and its deepest secrets with clarity and certainty.

John Locke
1632–1704

John Locke

Argued for people's basic good nature, government by consent, and human rights.

Isaac Newton
1643–1727

Isaac Newton

Showed that the laws of nature can be understood by the human mind, the founding optimism of modern science.

Gottfried Leibniz
1646–1716

Gottfried Leibniz

Polymath who invented calculus alongside Newton, and spent his life on the improvement of humankind.

Edmond Halley
1656–1742

Edmond Halley

Astronomer who used Newton's laws to predict the return of the comet that bears his name, and was proved right.

Montesquieu
1689–1755

Montesquieu

A founder of social science who argued for the separation of powers that protects freedom today.

Voltaire
1694–1778

Voltaire

Mocked blind optimism in Candide. Intelligent optimism takes his point: hope must face the facts.

Benjamin Franklin
1706–1790

Benjamin Franklin

Printer, scientist, inventor and diplomat. Tamed lightning with the lightning rod and believed in useful knowledge for all.

Thomas Jefferson
1743–1826

Thomas Jefferson

Wrote the Declaration of Independence and believed ordinary citizens, once educated, could choose their own futures.

Bertrand Russell
1872–1970

Bertrand Russell

Philosopher, mathematician and Nobel laureate, optimistic about reason, science and human goodness.

What they share

The habits behind the optimism.

1

They trust evidence

From Newton to Pinker, they test ideas against the world and change their minds when the facts say so.

2

They see problems as solvable

Disease, poverty, ageing, distance: each was once "just how things are". They refused to accept that.

3

They build

Calculus, the lightning rod, rockets, prizes, schools. Optimism that turns into something you can use.

Who would you add?

Tell us about an intelligent optimist who inspires you.

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