Links: Optimism Edition
Collected some happy, optimistic links. We deserve it.
There are lots of places to get your good news. I like Fix The News for progress on health, the environment, and so on.
The Techno-Optimism Archive via Laura Michet shares old promises of new technologies. Newspaper cuttings and vintage adverts. I love this stuff.
From The IndieWeb is Wonderfully Dionysian by Brennan:
The Internet, at its best, is a Dionysian project. Chaotic, border-dissolving, weirdly intimate, full of people finding each other across vast distances. Pressing strange, specific voices into the dark.
Davy Russell proposes "wonder clicking" as The Opposite Of Doom Scrolling:
Instead of getting pulled through the endless scroll of rage bait, AI-slop, and ads that is the algorithmically-driven social media feed, it's clicking into things because you're curious, not because something was placed in front of you. It's slower and more intentional.
Tala's you should be joymaxxing your projects:
I'm interested in the —maxxing suffix I've seen circulating online. I liked the shamelessness of it, the idea you can just decide to maximize something (good), as aggressively and deliberately as you want.
Paired with On sidequest-maxxing by Leo:
no matter where I go, or who I meet, I always get asked some variation of “how and why do you do so much stuff?”
You Should Publish That by Hilander is about RPGs but also, really, about everything. Including the perennially solid advice:
Write the shittiest version first. Make it better later.
Spread Hope by Absurd Pirate:
Hope is found in the smallest of actions. It's found in when we help others without asking. It's when we open an ear and lend a hand. It's feeding and giving to people who have far less than you. It's being a friend. It's volunteering when and where you can. It's helping the sick, the elderly, the young, the frightened.
Ava's message to a friend / self-reflection:
It can be easy to talk yourself out of things. This is too hard, this costs money, this takes too much energy, this doesn't look productive enough to other people, this is for people smarter than me, I am not good enough for this, no one will care, everyone will think this is cringe... the list goes on. But you actually grow when you just try things and aren't afraid to feel out of place or embarrassed.
care as outlaw behaviour from Robotamerica:
in a time where instant gratification has stolen our attention, to care has become a form of outlaw behaviour.
Joyful web design by James:
I want this site to be a constellation of moments of joy.
I've been having fun designing some pages on my site and I hope they are moments of joy when people find them too.
The enduring protocols of The boring internet by Terry Godier:
The internet is not dying. A commercial veneer glued on top of it is dying.
And finally, How to have a good day? Ancient wisdom from Michael Roxas.
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