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Last week, my closest childhood friend got sentenced to seven years in prison for leading a money laundering gang.
That could've easily been me. Growing up in the dank inner city of Dublin, buying drugs was as easy as buying candy.
True story: When I was a kid, my neighbor was drunkenly bludgeoned to death with a golf club on Saint Patrick’s Day morning.
Most of the kids I grew up with never made it out.
1. My mom bought me my first computer when I was 10.
It was my window to a better world I never knew existed. I'd spend entire days glued to the screen, chatting with folks halfway across the globe.
Ultimately, the internet allowed me to connect with American entrepreneurs who saw potential in a scrappy Irish kid. They gave me a shot, and it changed my life.
If I'd been born just 10 years earlier, pre-internet? Who knows where I'd be. Likely nowhere good.
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” It’s true. This matters to you because The Rational Optimist Society (ROS) is your new opportunity to bump up that average big time.
As I explained on Friday, ROS is our new initiative inspired by my friend Matt Ridley’s bestselling book, The Rational Optimist. Matt is an honorary founder in ROS, along with some other names you might recognize.
Think of membership in ROS as your backstage pass into the minds of entrepreneurs and innovators who are creating the future. And the easiest way to know about breakthrough technologies that matter.
2. Are we living in the end times?
You might think so if you watch the news—which mongers your fear and incites your anxiety as a business model.
The news always pushed our fear buttons. But it’s worse than ever today. The data confirms it.
Researchers from Wharton and London Business School analyzed 200 million newspaper pages from the past 170 years. They found that the "sentiment" (how positive or negative the news is) has never, ever been worse. Not during the 2008 crash, not during the Great Depression. Think about that for a second.
Source: National Bureau of Economic Research
This constant negativity isn't just bumming you out. Undue pessimism is also poison for your portfolio.
That's why we're building a new kind of media with The Rational Optimist Society.
We'll celebrate technological breakthroughs, human achievements, and the incredible opportunities of our time.
We're not here to sugarcoat reality, but to show you the world as it truly is. Yes, it’s full of challenges. But it’s also brimming with progress and possibility.
Did you know that every day since 1990, an average of 130,000 people have permanently escaped extreme poverty?
That's headline material for 34 years straight!
Yet all we hear is despair. It has real consequences.
3. Did you know a record number of high school seniors have lost hope in the future?
That’s according to a long-running University of Michigan survey:
Source: Monitoring the Future
Our kids have never been more down in the dumps. That's not just sad, it's downright dangerous.
If we let the doom-and-gloom brigade keep force feeding our kids a pessimism smoothie, we'll raise a generation of little ones who surrender control of their emotions to fear-mongering headlines.
I refuse to let that happen.
I imagine my five-year-old daughter asking me a few years from now: "Dad, how did you fight back when everyone was telling us the world was doomed?"
That's why I started The Rational Optimist Society.
I want my daughter—and your kids and grandkids—to know the truth. The world is bursting with opportunities. With grit and innovation, we can tackle almost any problem.
The Rational Optimist Society isn't just about consuming better media. It's about creating a movement. A tribe of 1,000,000 clear-eyed optimists who'll shape the future and seize the opportunities it presents.
Together, we'll build a community that celebrates progress, fosters innovation, and inspires the next generation to dream big.
Are you in?