Intelligent Optimism isn't a mood. It's a way of thinking you can practise every day.
One shocking story is not a pattern. Ask what the numbers say over ten, fifty or a hundred years.
Things are bad, and things are better. Rosling's reminder: both can be true at the same time.
Judge today against the real past, not against a perfect world that never existed.
Behind every problem solved there are scientists, nurses, engineers and volunteers. Find them and learn from them.
As David Deutsch puts it (and Pinker quotes): problems are inevitable, and problems are soluble. Optimism is a reason to act, not to relax.
Change your view when the evidence changes. Being curious matters more than being right.
Choose your news on purpose. Read deeply once a day rather than refreshing all day.
Most progress is slow and quiet. A 2% gain a year changes the world in a lifetime.
Shermer's moral arc: progress means caring about more people. Practise empathy beyond your own group.
Don't just predict the future. Make a small piece of it better, in your work, your school, your street.
Start with one. Pick a single habit this week, maybe checking the trend before you share a scary headline. Small habits, repeated, are how minds and worlds change.
Inspired by: Hans Rosling, Factfulness; Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now and The Better Angels of Our Nature; Michael Shermer, The Moral Arc; Peter Diamandis & Steven Kotler, Abundance.