The following is adapted from Lords of the Cosmos by Arjun Khemani and Logan Chipkin.
Is optimism just a mood—something some people are born with and others aren’t? In a world filled with problems like racism, poverty, and violence, isn’t optimism naïve? After all, many insist that such evils will always exist.
This assumption is what philosophers call pessimism: the belief that some problems are permanent and unsolvable. But pessimism is not just gloomy—it’s wrong.
Consider the set of all transformations allowed by the laws of nature. Stars can collapse into black holes, particles can collide into photons, and atoms can fuse into heavier elements. Yet the transformations caused by life, and especially humans, are far greater. The human genome alone produces tens of thousands of proteins. Humanity, through knowledge, has gone further still—we build skyscrapers, split atoms, compose symphonies, and send probes beyond the solar system. No other force in the cosmos reshapes reality in this way.
The crucial point: anything not forbidden by the laws of physics is, in principle, possible. Faster-than-light travel is impossible. But near-light-speed journeys? Achievable. Immortality? Not prohibited by physics—only waiting on knowledge. As David Deutsch has put it, if there’s no physical law against it, then it’s a solvable problem.
This means that evil, too, is not inevitable. Murder, war, oppression, and poverty are not cosmic laws. They are problems waiting for solutions, problems solvable through the growth of knowledge. Slavery, once widespread and accepted, is now nearly extinct as a moral system. The same transformation can occur for other forms of injustice and suffering.
Optimism, then, isn’t wishful thinking. It’s the rational stance in the face of humanity’s challenges. To give in to pessimism is not only intellectually mistaken—it’s morally wrong, because it denies the possibility of solutions.
Knowledge is the engine of progress, and its growth is civilization’s greatest task. This is why ideologies that slow or obstruct knowledge are so destructive. Socialism hinders efficient resource allocation. Dogmatism forbids the criticism needed to refine ideas. Relativism blurs the line between truth and falsehood. Doomerism paralyzes progress by insisting that technology and change can only bring ruin. Each of these “enemies” restricts the very process that makes solutions possible.
History shows the opposite approach works. By seeking new knowledge, humans have repeatedly transformed what once looked like permanent barriers into stepping stones. Diseases once untreatable are now curable. Global communication, unthinkable a century ago, is instantaneous today.
Optimism, then, is not an optional mood but a duty. Every problem we face—from hunger to war to climate—can be solved if we create the knowledge required. No evil should last longer than it must. The universe offers us endless raw material to work with. The only true danger is giving up before the work is done.
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For more insights on the principles of progress and optimism, you can find Lords of the Cosmos on Amazon.
At sixteen, Arjun Khemani ditched high school to help Naval Ravikant build Airchat. Now a writer, filmmaker, and Conjecture Institute fellow, he hosts the Arjun Khemani Podcast, interviewing guests about our deepest ideas. His work rebels against modern pessimism and declares the future is ours to boldly, unapologetically reinvent.
Logan Chipkin is president and cofounder of Conjecture Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading and applying humanity's deepest ideas. He has written, edited, and co-authored numerous articles and books. He is the host of Rat Fest, a regular in-person philosophy conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.