Executive summary: Philosopher Maarten Boudry presents seven cognitive and societal “laws” to explain why people feel pessimistic about the world despite unprecedented global progress, arguing that this misperception is rooted in media dynamics, evolutionary psychology, and the self-erasing nature of progress itself; the post is a reflective, accessible exploration drawing from progress literature and cognitive science.
Key points:
Good news is invisible, bad news is dramatic: The media naturally favors regress—sudden, visible disasters—over the slow, abstract nature of most progress, skewing public perception toward pessimism.
Bad news spreads faster and sticks harder: The speed of global communication and cognitive biases like the availability heuristic make tragic events feel more common than they are, especially in the age of social media.
People are evolutionarily drawn to negative content: Just as drivers rubberneck at crashes, humans instinctively focus on threats due to survival instincts, leading us to click more on negative headlines and follow doom-laden narratives.
Progress raises expectations, maintaining outrage: As societies improve, people recalibrate their standards and find new things to complain about, giving the illusion of stagnation or decline even in the face of improvement.
Digital platforms amplify negativity: Social media algorithms reinforce our attention biases, meaning even brief engagement with bad news will lead to more of it being served to us.
Solutions make problems seem forgotten or misattributed: Once a problem is addressed (e.g. through chemotherapy or lockdowns), the remaining downsides of the solution are often criticized more than the original issue, which fades from memory.
Free societies air more grievances: In liberal democracies, the openness to critique gives the impression of greater dysfunction compared to authoritarian regimes where problems are hidden—what Boudry calls the “law of disinfecting sunlight.”
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Executive summary: Philosopher Maarten Boudry presents seven cognitive and societal “laws” to explain why people feel pessimistic about the world despite unprecedented global progress, arguing that this misperception is rooted in media dynamics, evolutionary psychology, and the self-erasing nature of progress itself; the post is a reflective, accessible exploration drawing from progress literature and cognitive science.
Key points:
Good news is invisible, bad news is dramatic: The media naturally favors regress—sudden, visible disasters—over the slow, abstract nature of most progress, skewing public perception toward pessimism.
Bad news spreads faster and sticks harder: The speed of global communication and cognitive biases like the availability heuristic make tragic events feel more common than they are, especially in the age of social media.
People are evolutionarily drawn to negative content: Just as drivers rubberneck at crashes, humans instinctively focus on threats due to survival instincts, leading us to click more on negative headlines and follow doom-laden narratives.
Progress raises expectations, maintaining outrage: As societies improve, people recalibrate their standards and find new things to complain about, giving the illusion of stagnation or decline even in the face of improvement.
Digital platforms amplify negativity: Social media algorithms reinforce our attention biases, meaning even brief engagement with bad news will lead to more of it being served to us.
Solutions make problems seem forgotten or misattributed: Once a problem is addressed (e.g. through chemotherapy or lockdowns), the remaining downsides of the solution are often criticized more than the original issue, which fades from memory.
Free societies air more grievances: In liberal democracies, the openness to critique gives the impression of greater dysfunction compared to authoritarian regimes where problems are hidden—what Boudry calls the “law of disinfecting sunlight.”
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.