Optimistic low grade fever
The case for staying curious when everything feels broken
As an overall optimistic person, I’ve recently been feeling a quiet sense of dread that doesn’t quite square with what I deeply believe is a moment filled with potential for better days ahead.
As I try to reconcile these two feelings, their contrast becomes clearer. My optimism is rooted in the potential of today’s technology and the promise of what it can deliver tomorrow. The dread, however, is not just vague anxiety. It’s an honest observation of where my mind and psyche are right now.
Many things are heading in the wrong direction in American society. But the one I worry about most is the erosion of reason. Not just the ability to reason, but even the recognition that reason is a foundational skill worth nurturing, celebrating, and rewarding. There is a growing pride in ignorance, an acceptance of it without curiosity or critical thought. It is no longer merely tolerated. It is increasingly treated as a virtue.
It couldn’t come at a worse time.
The way most of us work will change drastically over the next few years. Seeing those changes coming, understanding what they mean, and doing the work to pivot and adapt will require a deep commitment to learning. People who can’t be bothered to fact-check their politicians on basic lies will struggle to adapt to far more complex shifts.
That does spell disaster for some. I have come to terms with the uncomfortable truth that not everyone will adjust in time. We can only hope that the reality of the needed mindset shift becomes clear before it’s too late.
And yet, despite these looming Generative AI-driven changes, I remain optimistic.
Partly because I’ve never believed society owes me a way to contribute. I do believe society should strive to create opportunity and lift up those who need a hand to get started. But I’ve never thought of myself as someone who must be carried forward. I’m a problem solver. I have never been concerned that society would run out of problems worth solving.
As a problem solver, I believe the ability to learn more, do more, and do it more efficiently will never be a bad thing. Strip away the very real concerns about Generative AI, including intellectual theft, energy consumption, and the concentration of power in a few companies and individuals. What remains is a profound truth. Even if large language models never improve beyond where they are today, they represent a massive leap in humanity’s ability to learn, produce, and build.
What problem facing humanity would not benefit from greater knowledge, speed, and productivity?
So when I hold these two emotions side by side, I arrive at a diagnosis.
I am suffering from an optimistic low-grade fever.
Our society is fractured in ways that will be difficult to repair. This has been true for years, perhaps decades. The patterns of injustice we are witnessing today are not new. But we still have to engage. Because we either help build the future or it gets built without us.
And when the future being built is not incremental but transformative, when it changes how we build, how we think, and what we are capable of creating, the stakes rise.
Being left out of the Generative AI revolution will be like missing the Industrial Revolution, the computer revolution, and the internet revolution all at once. Today, you would not attempt to compete without machines, computers, or the internet. Tomorrow, you will not compete without AI tooling.
The low-grade fever persists.
But we cannot let it immobilize us.
Because the future is not waiting for us to feel ready.