Why We’re So Bad at Solving Long-Term Problems
‘The Optimist’s Telescope’ by Bina Venkataraman
In her preface to The Optimist’s Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age (2019), Bina Venkataraman explains:
“For seven years and counting, I have been investigating what allows wisdom to prevail over recklessness; what role our biological programming, our environment, and our culture play; and what changes are possible in our communities, businesses, and society. I’ve taken my inquiry to dive bars, to city council meetings, to old-growth forests, to family reunions, and on foreign delegations around the world. I’ve visited Kansas farms, Wall Street firms, virtual reality labs in Silicon Valley, fishing villages in Mexico, and the nuclear fallout zone in Fukushima, Japan.”
She’s asking why we don’t have foresight. Foresight, not necessarily by having certainty about the future—given that, of course, “we can’t smell, touch, or hear the future”—but by making better choices based in both our knowledge and our ignorance. (“It’s the difference between knowing it will rain at tomorrow’s soccer game and actually bringing an umbrella.”) And why, when we do have good information, we still have poor judgment. Why we’re reckless. Why we aren’t careful.
