menu Home chevron_right
PHILOSOPHY

Debunking doomerism: 4 futurists on why we’re actually not f*cked | Kevin Kelly & more

Big Think | September 25, 2025



Four visionaries—Kevin Kelly, Peter Schwartz, Ari Wallach, and Tyler Cowen—share their insights on the future, urging viewers to consider the impact of their actions on future generations.

Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1
Up next, A guide to surviving humanity’s tipping point ► https://youtu.be/teNE748O-vw?si=WlxD159us0dlLUap

Explore the future with visionaries Kevin Kelly, Peter Schwartz, Ari Wallach, and Tyler Cowen.

While each is looking into the future through a different lens, they all share a belief in the power of optimism and proactive engagement as essential tools for overcoming today’s challenges.

Wallach introduces “Longpath,” urging long-term thinking, while Kelly advocates for “Protopia,” emphasizing gradual progress. Schwartz highlights scenario planning’s importance, emphasizing curiosity and collaboration. Cowen reflects on America’s progress and calls for urgency.

Together, they stress empathy, transgenerational thinking, and diverse futures to collectively build a better tomorrow. The message: the future is a continuous creation requiring proactive, collective action.

Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/progress/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description

———————————————————————————-

► About Kevin Kelly:
Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at WIRED magazine. He co-founded WIRED in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor for its first seven years. His newest book is The Inevitable, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. He is founder of the popular Cool Tools website, which has been reviewing tools daily for 20 years. From 1984-1990 Kelly was publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Review, a subscriber-supported journal of unorthodox conceptual news. He co-founded the ongoing Hackers’ Conference, and was involved with the launch of the WELL, a pioneering online service started in 1985.

► About Peter Schwartz:
Peter Schwartz is an internationally renowned futurist and business strategist, specializing in scenario planning and working with corporations, governments, and institutions to create alternative perspectives of the future and develop robust strategies for a changing and uncertain world. As Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning for Salesforce, he manages the organization’s ongoing strategic conversation.

Peter was co-founder and chairman of Global Business Network. He is the author of several works. His first book, The Art of the Long View, is considered a seminal publication on scenario planning. Peter has also served as a script consultant on the films “The Minority Report,” “Deep Impact,” “Sneakers,” and “War Games.” He received a B.S. in aeronautical engineering and astronautics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.

► About Ari Wallach:
Ari Wallach is an applied futurist and Executive Director of Longpath Labs. He is the author of Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs by HarperCollins and the creator and host of the forthcoming series on PBS A Brief History of the Future, which is being executive produced by Kathryn Murdoch and Drake.

He has been a strategy and foresight advisor to Fortune 100 companies, the US Department of State, the Ford Foundation, the UN Refugee Agency, the RacialEquity 2030 Challenge and Politico’s Long Game Forum.

As adjunct associate professor at Columbia University he lectured on innovation, AI, and the future of public policy. Wallach’s TED talk on Longpath has been viewed 2.6 million times and translated into 21 languages. Ari was the co-creator of 2008’s pro-Obama The Great Schlep with Sarah Silverman.

► About Tyler Cowen:
Tyler is the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is co-author of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution and co-founder of the online educational platform Marginal Revolution University.

He graduated from George Mason University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and earned a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He also runs a podcast series called Conversations with Tyler. His latest book Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives and Winners Around the World is co-authored with venture capitalist Daniel Gross.

Tagged as , , , , , .

Written by Big Think

Comments

This post currently has 25 comments.

  3. @mindvolution

    September 25, 2025 at 4:19 am

    We need to fundamentally rethink our economy and change our mindset from "perpetual growth" to "sustainable growth". It's quite conceivable that we actually can disrupt the balance in natural habitats. We can disrupt the environment with all the chemical pollution, deforestation, overpopulation… we can disrupt it to a tipping point beyond which conditions can get worse and worse, with dry land, unfertile soil, extreme weather, habitats collapse. It's completely possible that in a couple of centuries from now, humans will be surviving, rather than thriving ever more. We need to rethink our ways on a civilizational-level, on the level of humanity assembly. And it's not only technological and cultural evolution that's needed, we need to add human happiness and fulfillment in the equation too. Otherwise, future humans might be facing a world where, apart from extreme weather, serious mental-issues are the norm.

  12. @ilovelij

    September 25, 2025 at 4:19 am

    Clicking on this I was hoping to feel better about the state of the world, global injustices and human and animal suffering. Give me a reason to want humans to survive much longer. But now I see it’s just a series of old white men talking about how far technology can go in making rich people modify their genetics to they can keep getting rich for longer. Mission failed.

  14. @meow-wv9yc

    September 25, 2025 at 4:19 am

    Sounds like hopium tbh . There some crucial topics such as class warfare that also prevent progress due to fear of competition. Also the cultures that I consider cancers like wokeism and ghetto culture . Lots of buzz not a lot of fuzz

  16. @nickvoutsas5144

    September 25, 2025 at 4:19 am

    The future is in the now , every moment we make a decision we lay a path for all future happenings. Unfortunately we are like any virus trying to multiply without much thought of saving the host which is planet earth. In the future we will progress in artificially intelligence and far less biological intelligence by chemically engineering a more sustainable natural environment. There are so many fools thinking of how we are going to live longer and better when the focus should be on how we will create a more friendly sustainable biological systems on earth.
    We have to change from being viruses which consume the host to a virus which builds the host.

  20. @sherryvt61

    September 25, 2025 at 4:19 am

    What they didn't mention is corporate greed destroying economic lives of people on the lower rungs of society and squeezing out small business and creating more pollution. Also, they mention not interacting with people who think differently from myself, but why how would it benefit me to consider toxic and hateful ideas? However, I did enjoy it and learned from it.

Comments are closed.

Related
I’m Not Afraid of Death – Richard Dawkins
Alex O'Connor | April 20, 2026
Related
What Is Nostalgia & Why Is It So Important?
Pursuit of Wonder | April 17, 2026
Related
Steven Pinker on Language | Big Think
Big Think | April 17, 2026

This area can contain widgets, menus, shortcodes and custom content. You can manage it from the Customizer, in the Second layer section.

 

 

 

Go to album
  • play_circle_filled

    92.9 : The Torch

  • play_circle_filled

    AGGRO
    'Til Deaf Do Us Part...

  • play_circle_filled

    SLACK!
    The Music That Made Gen-X

  • play_circle_filled

    KUDZU
    The Northwoods' Alt-Country & Americana

  • play_circle_filled

    BOOZHOO
    Indigenous Radio

  • play_circle_filled

    THE FLOW
    The Northwoods' Hip Hop and R&B

play_arrow skip_previous skip_next volume_down
playlist_play