DHH pens anti-doomer essay: stop fretting about AI and climate, choose to bloom
banteg · x · 2026-10-06
Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson published a long essay, "What on earth are you dooming about?", pushing back against pervasive climate, inequality and AI doom. Key arguments:
- Humanity's material metrics have never been better, yet endless dooming reflects a misapplied negativity bias toward vague, uncontrollable threats
- AI anxiety is a bad bet either way: if "The Terminator" comes, upfront fretting gains nothing; if it doesn't, you'll miss the intelligence boom and creative abundance AI unleashes
- Climate doom fares the same: game theory ensures rival superpowers won't slow down, and three decades of European anxiety neither curbed global emissions nor helped the continent's economy
- His closing call: "This is not the time to doom, baby. This is the time to bloom" — intellectually, spiritually and productively
The essay is circulating widely among tech figures like banteg, representing the Valley's anti-doomer camp.
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