What's an uplifting fact that might counter the doom of our current reality?
Edit: Sheesh. Some of you folks need this.
Dictionary Definitions from Oxford Languages
up·lift·ing /ˌəpˈliftiNG/
adjective
adjective: uplifting
inspiring happiness, optimism, or hope. "an uplifting story of triumph over adversity"
Ebooks can be purchased as well, with a little skill (or reading a tutorial) you can make it undeletable and uneditable as well.
Source: My epub library growing day by day, synced between multiple devices by syncthing.
Ebooks can be purchased as well, with a little skill (or reading a tutorial) you can make it undeletable and uneditable as well.
You're quite right (at least it used to be easy, I have not checked for some time how hard it is now to get rid of Apple's and/or Amazon's DRM... the two main DRM-locked ebook sellers), but keep in mind not everybody feels ok to not respect the rules and/or breach the contract they signed. Also there is no need to that at all with printed books.
Fascism doesn't actually last that long. At some point, policies have to have some kind of attachment to reality, and fascists are incapable of grappling with reality.
Franco stuck around for quite awhile, but yeah its track record is usually short.
Well, we all wish they'd "grapple" with a few rounds at high velocity instead of fingerbanging their own shit and screaming incoherently. They're infecting the other adult-sized toddlers, and it's getting tedious to corral at this point.
We're actually doing pretty well, globally, at shifting to renewables. We're making more, more quickly and more cheaply than ever before.
And the best part is that this is driven by economics, not even policy at this point. Renewables are cheaper.
AFAIK, this one isn't true. CO2 emissions aren't going down. We're not getting a word with renewables instead of fossil fuels. We're getting a world with both of them used in abundance.
Growth of carbon has been slowing to zero and we’re hitting peak carbon sometime around now
Wallets are twice as likely to be returned as people expect. And the interesting thing is this holds true more or less globally.
I dream of finding the wallet stuffed with enough cash to dig me out of this mess, but in reality, if there's any way at all to get it back to who dropped it, I will. Found a wallet a few months ago on a day trip, laying in the road. Ending up using the names on the credit cards to Facebook stalk a dude, found his company website, called him, and met him a half hour later to return it. Had like 800 dollars in cash it. I just... Can't be an asshole, even when it would benefit me
Back in the 80s, I was at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, and a guy left his wallet in our booth, stuffed with money.
I took it back to my room, and only removed his Driver's License, so I could see where he lived. I found out the area code for his city, called Information, and asked for his phone number. His name wasn't there, but there was one woman's listing with the same last name, so I called it, and reached his mother.
She was immediately worried, but I quickly explained that her son was fine, "But he left his wallet in my booth, and he's probably in a full on panic by now. Please call him, and let him know that he can pick it up at our booth tomorrow."
We didn't have cell phones back then, so she would have had to contact his company, find out what hotel he was staying in, and then get the message to him, but she must have done all that, because he came blasting into our booth the next morning, still in a panic.
I handed him his wallet, and he took out a $50 bill and tried to give it to me. I refused it, happy to do a good deed, but he threw it at me and ran out of the booth!
I was in Vegas, what do you think I did with it? It was gone 5 minutes after leaving my booth.
Reminded of when someone opened their car window and yelled to me on the sidewalk that I had dropped some cash on the ground :)
Last time I ran out to a parking lot to find someone who dropped some cash in a store, they split some of it with me!
Free Open Source Software is pretty amazing imo
cheese exists
What's your favorite cheese?
Monte Enebro, it's a goat cheese rith a volcanic ash rind
Underrated reminder here.
While this argument is true, it's full of holes.
Canada geese and white-tailed deer nearly went extinct. Now they're considered pests in some areas. It's possible for nature to bounce back, it just needs to be given a chance.
Pests? If you got a problem with Canada Gooses, you got a problem with me, and I suggest you let that one marinate.
white-tailed deer
Kamikaze hoses. I some how have not totaled a car on one yet.
Here's one I like: despite the efforts of Big Oil and their orange-painted lackey, the amount of renewable energy generated in the first half of 2025 has surpassed energy generated by fossil means.
Renewables surpassed coal, not all fossil fuels. Renewables were 34%. The good news is they are faster growing.
I stand corrected.
Renewable energy and battery storage are seeing an absolute collapse in prices such that it is inevitable in the near to mid term future that we will move away from fossil fuel extraction leaving much of it in the ground. This will happen no matter who is in charge politically or who tries to subsidize fossil fuels because money is king and a lot of free energy hits the earth every day.
This, combined with falling birthrates, means we will hit peak carbon emissions and begin to drop back to a new normal, a new economy built around labor rather than capital because of the shift in balance between resources and workers similar to what happened during the black death. It is my opinion that this will begin to happen in my lifetime and will fully come to pass in our children's lifetime.
Having worked in energy for 10 years (particularly battery storage and solar) you are correct about the prices falling, and in my opinion you are also correct about this dooming fossils.
However, I do not agree with your second point around a new economy arising built around labor rather than capital. The mechanics of value creation can change (eg renewables vs fossils) but what the ruling class will not allow to change without intense prolonged struggle is their own position as the rulers.
Trump is pretty old, and I cannot think of an example where a movement based around a cult of personality has successfully survived long after their leader has gone. Nor are there any viable successors that are likely to dodge any infighting. JD Vance as a successor? Yeah, ain't happening.
To summarize, the pendulum will eventually swing the other way. And the worse the MAGA crowd pulls it in their direction now, the harder it will swing.
yeah. frankly while most left/liberal dont' see it, Trump is also a product of the pendulum swinging. we have been on a good spat of liberalization for 30+ years and there was going to be a backlash. and as someone who grew up working class white, i totally get the unfairness and bitterness of so many of those people who the economic/education system has totally abandoned, and the horrible feelings and condescending that comes from the liberal elite/educated set who look down on everyone who isn't highly educated and living in a coastal city. i got lucky and got to be one of those people, but many of my peers did not.
frankly i find it truly revolting how much of liberal america is so disgusting smug and condescending towards anyone who isn't exactly like them, and that massively accelerated in the 2010s. used to be in the 2000s people would respect/admire me for working my way from a poor working class family to elite school on scholarship and putting myself through grad school and building al ife for myself... somewhere around 2015 that all became to change though and i repeatedly starting meeting folks who told me that i should have 'stayed in my place' and my 'education is wasted on losers like you'. etc. and that attitude has only gotten worse and worse in the 2020s. i'd say there is a massive massive increase in class snobbery and elitism that didn't exist 10-20 years ago.
i've also noticed progressives have moved away from economic issues largely and are entirely focused on culture war bullshit, esp use trans people and trans rights as the most important thing ever, which has alienated many many people due to the rage and hatred being spouted over it. to me this is a horrible horrible move, and plays right into the right wing's advantages. because they are offer a much clearer narrative about these things than the left/liberals are. and clear narratives win elections and voters.
what baffles me is how the democrats can't understand or replicate Obama's success and messaging and act like he was some act of God. He wasn't. He just appealed to people's sentiments and listened to them... just like Trump did in this last election... meanwhile the democrats totally ignore the people and lecture us that they know better than we do what is going on in the country and we should be happy with how things are.
I hope someone on the left/dems capitalized on the severe economic need in this country and steers away from the culture war bullshit. A candidate that wants to actually fix the problems in this country that affect everyone, but it seems nobody is coming forth to do so. And at best we are just getting some candidates who are just going to go with the 'trump bad, me not trump' routine again, which we know doesn't work.
what a lot of people miss in Trumps success is that he had a clear vision people could get behind, even if it was all bullshit and lies.
esp use trans people and trans rights as the most important thing ever, which has alienated many many people due to the rage and hatred being spouted
You have completely and hopelessly fallen for Republican propaganda. You've swallowed their entire framing of trans issues without any thought. You're repeating the Republican Party line verbatim.
Democrats have spent the last decade trying to stay the hell away from the trans rights discussion at every opportunity. They're not over bigots like Republicans, but they try to talk about literally anything else. Republicans however have continued to scream from the rooftops about trans people, as they try to incite the populous to acts of literal genocide.
Where are all these Democratic leaders that spend all their time talking about trans people? Can you name a single one? You've been brainwashed by conservative media.
I thought of disputing, but every paragraph is a troll
He didn't have a clear vision. He had contradictory promises all over the place.
You must be a troll if you're dumb enough to think all that tripe.
been waiting for that pendulum to swing almost 50 years now...
I cannot think of an example where a movement based around a cult of personality has successfully survived long after their leader has gone.
Most religious cults especially Christianity lol, what a statement
There's a promising treatment for Huntington's disease in the works, and we might have vaccines for allergies and/or asthma at some point!
It's my HRT birthday today, two years now and it's really sunny and warm. It's a nice day :3
Happy HRT-birthday! 🎉
Happy HRT birthday! Love your name btw :)
Man this is some fuckin excellent news
You sαy there is doom in our current reαlity, and it feels true, but never discount the wonderful things either. While mαny in this threαd have focused on directly αnswering question, I suspect there mαy be αn underlying dissαtisfαction in your mentαlity.
This threαd cαn shαre wonderful things, but without α shift on mentαlity, it mαy be eαsy enough to brush off. I know becαuse I wαs and still αm like this. Prαcticing grαtitude or grαtitude journαling mαy help, it did for me.
• I'm grαteful becαuse vαccines hαve such α powerful αurα of protection, thαt we αs α society have forgotten the nαmes of the diseαses they protect αgαinst. The world can be better, because one day, we may even erαdicαte these diseαses which still plαgue our species.
• I'm grαteful I hαve opposαble thumbs, becαuse it mαkes it eαsy to be α potαto on the couch and doom scroll. The mere αct that I can see informαtion on α powerful device thαt cαn tell me the stories from αround the globe is quite incredible.
• I'm grαteful becαuse I don't comment very often, but I wαnted to this time. I usuαlly lurk quietly, but I too cαn be better thαn I currently αm αnd pαrticipαte sometimes.
What a great comment from an infrequent commenter. Thank you! This was a lovely read, good points, and I shared with my wife.
i am so distracted by your "a"s
You notic𝖾d!! 🎉
I b𝖾li𝖾v𝖾 many p𝖾opl𝖾 can't t𝖾ll the diff𝖾r𝖾nc𝖾 wh𝖾n k𝖾ming or l𝖾tt𝖾rs (i.e. ee and aα) ar𝖾 just a bit off, and I lov𝖾 it! And th𝖾n th𝖾r𝖾's it𝖾ms such as s𝖾micolon (;) and a Gr𝖾ek qu𝖾stion mark (;). My nam𝖾 grawlix is the us𝖾 of typographical symbols to r𝖾plac𝖾 profanity (i.e. @$&%#), but I don't want to b𝖾 too obvious :)
In 6 billion years the sun will swole up to engulf the earth and none of this will have ever mattered.
Assuming humanity doesn't get our shit together enough to explore and settle the galax-heeheehee. I'm sorry. I used to hope for that.
I actually do find that comforting.
Wow you all suck at this. Okay I'm gonna do an actual one. The amount of wars had around the world has SIGNIFICANTLY decreased from just a century ago.
billionaires are not immortal (yet)
And they have physical bodies!
them being immortal would probably speed up their removal, if change can only happen through violence then your hand is forced
but their money is, and it's already sequestered away. Their mere existence is a problem that lasts longer than their lifespan.
Pizza. It's really good and I'm going to eat more of it
Cost of living has gotten to me recently so I've been making my own pizzas and they taste better than dominoes plus they're cheaper. I'm stoked
Dice some garlic, mix it with passata and chopped spinach and that's your sauce. Cheese and sliced tomatoes on top, plus more spinach
"There is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can't be improved with pizza."
Daria Morgendorffer
Scuba diving.
It might make it worse, not being able to eat the pizza without tasting the water you're in and having to deal with removing and replacing your mouthpiece.
... or latrine/septic cleaner on the job. I'm not enjoying pizza in a shittank.
!upliftingnews@lemmy.world and !wholesome@reddthat.com exist and I think that's beautiful.
Subbed to both. Thank you for sharing.
In the grand scheme this is all fleeting. Humanity is fleeting. The earth will continue, it will heal, trees will eventually take over. The earth has patience, more than we can comprehend. Long after we're gone it will still be here, it will be green and lush and vibrant, life will be abundant again, and we will be little more than a few ancient scars on it.
That personally brings me peace. No matter how dark things get it's nothing on the immense scale that is out planets lifetime. 5 years? 10? 20? 100? 1000? It's nothing to the earth. Humanity's <10,000 years means nothing to the planet in the scale of millions of years. Even climate change, the effects to us will be horrendous, but to the earth it will keep happily spinning, and it will get over it and correct itself.
Humanity’s <10,000 years
Not to nitpick over much, but humans are ~2M years old or more, with H. sapiens being about 300K years old.
The industrial age, however, is not even 300yrs old, so there's your flash in the pan extinction spiral, so to speak.
Even closer to the bare truth: the earth has no "patience" and "green and lush and vibrant" is beautiful to those that prefer it — but life is not assured, and neither is the eventual equilibrium that settles after our species' last fuckup fades. Still, you're on the right track. 😅🖖🏼
I’m having goulash this evening, and the next couple of weeks. The world could go up in flames and hell freeze over and I wouldn’t care.
Two weeks of goulash sounds like too much.
Yea I’m gonna freeze most of it. But it is one of those dishes that only makes sense to make in massive proportions and I was lucky to find a lean and tough cut of meat for a great price.
Had a goulash today for lunch!
Goulash is the perfect meal no matter what so long as the weather is cold and rainy.
I've never tried making goulash because I had a goulash in Prague that was life-changing and mine could never compare.
After your death you will be what you were before your birth.
I think that is really reassuring
What does that mean? This is one of the most logically true discussions of spirituality I am familiar with. It takes no position on what that condition might be, but addresses the issue in an almost circular reference.
Those who believe we come from nothing cannot argue that somehow, by having lived, we will go on to be something afterwards, per the First Law of Thermodynamics.
Those who believe we have a ‘soul’, something other than our physical bodies, that goes on after we die, admit that we had to have had a soul prior to birth.
And those that believe we are on a wheel, going through life again and again, understand that we are what we always have been, and will continue to be, when we’re not busy living our lives.
https://philosiblog.com/2011/12/05/after-your-death-you-will-be-what-you-were-before-your-birth/
Maybe there's only one soul. Like in The Egg. It's just one soul reincarnating into one life after the next, jumping forwards and backwards in space and time. Eventually after passing through the lifetimes of every sentient being that is, was, or ever shall be, the path of reincarnation loops back upon itself. There is only one soul, only one consciousness in the cosmos. One infinite endless circling wheel of experience, all bound in a universe finite in both space and time.
One of my favorite short stories and a really neat way to view the world. It's hard to be angry at others when you feel they are more like you than they seem or realize.
The universe does not render to nothing that which came from something.
The very laws of physics dictate that 'you' do not disappear. Time is a human projection of our understanding and perspective. Our times of death are merely a location on a much grander tapestry that we are absolutely a part of. While we may not be infinite, we are real.
A few somewhat recent ones of different magnitudes:
And let's not forget that cancer is the leading cause of death because medical science has made all the others much less fatal.
This isn't a fact but I have a gut feeling that people will be taking their power back in the near future.
Every dip into fascism in human history has been accompanied by an eventual upswing and purging of said fascists so, yes, I believe you are right.
History always repeats itself.
Things get bad, then they get REALLY bad, then usually violence solves it and things get good again.
Oh, phew. 🫡
It's definitely a cycle, and unfortunately we're getting really close to the end of one world order and the birth of a new one.
That last one. Could we find a way to skip to there this time? No? :(
Shakes magic 8-ball
"My sources say no"
SPYxFAMILY Season 3 just started. :)
It's a spy anime with this kid who is as adorable as she is dumb. And we love it. It's more of a comedy than anything, I think. Kids like it because the adorable little four-year-old saves the day, adults love it because the dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks four-year-old makes adorable faces. We all win.
I like it because it's a good show that features capable adults (aside from one glaring detail) instead of dumbass teenagers. I just wish it was a little less episodic.
Another positive surprise this season was "Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family!". It's basically Spy x Family but the parents are the main characters from Science Fell in Love.
What!? I loved that show. Added to my list
I believe historically we are still at the most peaceful time in a global scale. Doesn’t mean things aren’t bad or getting worse, but I guess we’ve got that going for us?
We're heading straight towards WW3, I'm not sure it's exactly peaceful.
But I have Netflix, social media, and marketed manipulating mass media to escape from life with.
When I need my fix of good news I go to iea.org and look at some graphs. I'm always thinking it should be faster but then again there's hope for climate change and the world is transitioning despite how entrenched the fossil fuel industry is.
Here's one on the investments being made:
When you die there is nothing. You go back to where you were before you were born.
No past, no future, no memory, nothing.
You will cease to be and the memory of you will fade from this universe nearly instantly.
There's a lovely peace to that...
Death is before me today Like a sick man’s recovery, Like going outdoors after confinement. Death is before me today Like the fragrance of myrrh, Like sitting under sail on breeze day. Death is before me today Like the fragrance of lotus. Like sitting on the shore of drunkenness. Death is before me today Like a well-trodden way, Like a man’s coming home from warfare. Death is before me today Like the clearing of the sky. As when a man discovers what he ignored. Death is before me today Like a man’s longing to see his home When he has spent many years in captivity
That might be the case. Or you could be part of something else. A collective consciousness, of which you are a transient node. Or maybe there is no time at all. What we call time could just be our current state on a progress bar as we process life. Or maybe we're part of a nervous system for some larger construct. Or perhaps we are just reluctantly self-aware iterations of bio computers with fleeting lives that appeared through the chance combination of carbon-based structures.
Who knows. That's the beauty of it, which I personally feel religion and a certain type of confident atheism tend to deny with their respective faith/certainty.
Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.
Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.
Every generation in human history has been more intelligent and progressive than the last.
This trend is not slowing in the modern era.
this is reductive and false to the point where i have a hard time deciding where to begin
Humans aren't destroying the earth. We may be changing it so it's no longer hospitable to us, but the earth will go on fine even if humans extinct themselves.
My go to happy thought is this:
Wild dogs, wolves, coyotes, etc... don't have eyebrows. That is to say that they never evolved the muscles necessary to move their eyebrows in an expressive way.
Moveable eyebrows were a trait that domesticated dogs specifically evolved in order to mimic their humans and invoke more empathy (and let's face it...likely manipulate us for more treats)
That's a good one.
what's "uplifting" depends a lot on what you want to see in the world ...
but i'd say that we live in very exceptional times in history, so what's currently happening is not the norm and will sooner or later pass...
Im going to read through but I can't imagine anything that is uplifiting enough to counter the current weights attached to us.
The only way out is through, where there's a will, there is a way.
I don't live in the USA.
The same bullshit is infiltrating all modern nations. That's the long game. Nations are just the chess pieces being used to gain ownership of human life worldwide.
True.
But in the meantime, it's nice to be out of there and try to prevent it here.
The worry I have is people here don't know what it looks like when sliding in that direction and I do...
That doesn't do much for those of us who do, but I'm still happy for you!
The universe is extremely big and empty.
"Nothing lasts forever."
My kids ask me why grown ups make the choice to be mean to other people. They understand they are kids and are still learning. Doesn’t compute that a grown up would choose to be mean. Gonna keep it that way as long as I can.
Humans die eventually.
I know it's not a big thing, but for everyone who owns Yooka-Laylee on Steam, Yooka-Replaylee just released and is temporarily giving a discount for those who bought the original. Any chance to save money and have fun is a plus. Especially if you need distraction and escapism from the world.
Bonus: the game is NOT following the trendnof being triple AAA slop $60 priced. I'm confused on how much the owner bundle discount thing is, but it's currently 10% off in general until October 16, in which it will go back to being $29.99USD for the game. For a collect-a-thon, I'd say that's a steal.
Hoping Playtonic is able make a true sequel eventually. Looking forward to playing this reimagined version though.
one day, before you know it, you'll be dead and won't care anymore. in the grand scope of your life this is a small moment, so do whatever makes you happy today.
Someday we will all be food for microbes and plants.
Edit: I actually find this comforting. It wasn't sarcasm. Plants and microbes are our greater family. Knowing the molecules in my body will feed them when I'm no longer aware brings me a sense of peace and connection.
Humans will go extinct someday and the universe will be better for it.
Edit: Oof. Ruffled a lot of narcissist's feathers who don't like accepting that humans are a net negative force on the universe (and especially on this planet). You'll probably be really upset to find out you're going to die one day and cease to exist, forever.
Imagine thinking a small blip in time is in any way significant enough for the whole universe. You self-haters are a weird mix of hating humans yet wanting them to be extremely relevant.