Matt Sornson

We have made virtually no Progress over the vast majority of human history. Only recently (mostly since the European Enlightenment) has progress been discernible inside a human lifetime.

There are no mathematically provably fair forms of Governing and therefore the most important aspect to get right is to be able to remove leaders (see Criticism and Error Correction) when necessary.

Knowledge creating entities (aka People) can exist almost anywhere in the universe. With the right knowledge People could feasibly create an ideally suited environment in an empty area of space by hoovering up and transmuting hydrogen atoms into a space-station.Technology, once created, is automatic. We will not have to think about vacuums or the c... See more

Upgrade your brain with The Beginning of Infinity and The Fabric of Reality. Listen to @ToKTeacher podcasts alongside.

All Problems can be solved with the right explanations limited only by the laws of nature. However the search for Explanations will create new problems. Hence problems are inevitable.

Deustsch defines Optimism as the theory that all failures are due to lack of Knowledge. That doesn't mean proceeding as if there won't be bad outcomes (since problems are inevitable) - he calls that Blind Optimism. In contrast Blind Pessimism is avoiding everything not known to be safe.

Good Explanations objectively differ from Bad Explanations because they are Hard to vary. Explanations are inherently error prone (see Fallibilism) which is why we need Criticism and Error Correction. Explanations can have unbounded Reach (i.e. apply to solve unforeseen problems).

Since all problems can be solved with the right Knowledge and we humans, as Universal Explainers, have the potential to obtain any knowledge, we can have a cosmically sized impact upon the universe. Not only can we survive, but we can explore, learn, and thrive throughout our galaxy and more. If we so choose.