# What makes an "optimistic" vision of the future?

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## Metadata
- Author: [[Noah Smith]]
- Full Title: What makes an "optimistic" vision of the future?
- Category: #articles
- URL: https://getmatter.app/article/1708163/

## Highlights
- So those three things — abundance, egalitarianism, and human agency — seem to define what people see as optimistic science fiction. But let me end by saying that I think there’s a fourth element that has the potential to create even more optimistic visions — something so optimistic, and so hard to envision, that few sci-fi writers even attempt to incorporate it. I’m talking about the idea that technology will improve human nature itself.
- You just don't get it, do you, Jean-Luc? The trial never ends. We wanted to see if you had the ability to expand your mind and your horizons…That is the exploration that awaits you. Not mapping stars and studying nebulae, but charting the unknowable possibilities of existence.