Jason Crawford: By Future Standards, We're All Extremely Poor Today
jasoncrawford · x · 2026-08-20
Responding to claims that the optimistic AI vision is banal, Jason Crawford links chapter 8 of his Techno-Humanist Manifesto: "enough" is always relative. The average person in 1800 lacked electricity and plumbing yet felt they were doing fine—by today's standards they lived in extreme poverty. Likewise, if exponential growth continues, future generations will recoil that we died of cancer, heart disease, and car crashes, cleaned our homes by hand, and watched our thermostats carefully.
His core argument: our sense of comfort is anchored to the baseline we grew up with, so skepticism that life could get 10x better has been wrong at every point in history. Stronger positive visions exist—critics just don't believe in them.
Related event: Why AI's Optimist Vision Feels Bland: A Debate Over Future Narratives(7 posts)→
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