Hope in the darkness

Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness

Jamil Zaki 2024

“I have discovered that most people value compassion over selfishness, that donating money activates similar parts of your brain as eating chocolate, and that helping others through their stress soothes our own. The message of our work is simple: There is good in us, and it does good for us.” Jamil Zaki

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning." Albert Einstein

What a difference fifty years makes. Back in the 1970's, people mostly trusted American institutions and each other. This led to a virtuous cycle of people collaborating and building an economy and government that worked about as well as it ever had. Vietnam, a war in which generals lied about how America was winning against communism only to give up in 1974, was the first big break with trust. Watergate, a scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon after years of lies and sabotage, was the second break. The Civil Rights and Women's Rights movements made people question basic assumptions that had been passed on unquestioningly. Trust in institutions only went downhill from there.

And now here in the 2020's, trust in institutions has hit bottom. Trust in corporations, government, the media, the judicial system and science has dropped below 30% in most cases. Even our most trusted experts- doctors and medicine- suffered a huge drop in trust after the Covid-19 epidemic. According to Pew Research, Americans trust in each other has dropped from 46% in the 70's to 34% now. (and some estimates put it even lower.)

We spend a lot more time on screens being fed algorithms that enrage us about the worst of humanity, much of it made up. Crime is up when it's actually down. People being bad lead the evening news, while those doing good grab little attention. Mind you, many things and people don't deserve to be trusted, and you'd be a fool to think otherwise. But we have to put our trust in something, so how do we figure out what can be trusted and what can't in an age of rising mistrust?

I recently read the book Hope for Cynics, by Jamil Zaki that discusses this very problem. There seems to be less of a stigma tied to lying and cheating, and fewer consequences. This has led to a growing amount of cynicism that everything is bad and can't be trusted, so why bother doing the right thing or hoping for improvements? It's very easy to be cynical. That's the lazy way to exist amongst such negativity.

This book is about hope, which is the antidote to cynicism. Hope points a way to a better level of existence. Cynics discount hope as unrealistic. But as the author of this book points out, we agree on much more than we disagree on. In this polarized world, most people believe in a decent level of government services and taxation, even as government is demonized by those who profit from its shrinkage. Most believe in science and the challenges it tries to tackle in the 21st century- climate change, public health, and how to best deal with an aging population.

The first half of the book is fairly depressing as the author lays out the ways we are losing trust in each other and the future. She tries mightily in the last section to present stories of those who made a difference and took the risks that are needed to establish trust and cooperation. In order to get trust from others, we must give trust first. Employers have to treat their employees as valued and trusted collaborators, and not as greedy, lazy money suckers who need to be ranked and yanked every so often. Those at the bottom of the economy need to be treated with some sort of dignity if we want them to succeed, rather than shaming and blaming them at every opportunity while starving them of opportunities.

Negativity bias is at the heart of cynicism. We think the worst of others in order to feel better about ourselves. But other people aren't the enemy, and tribalism only results in a race to the bottom of hate and division. The author doesn't exactly present how to overcome negativity bias, but the first step is always recognizing that it's there.

There are always stories of people out there who help me keep faith in humanity. One resource I learned from this book is Reasons to Be Cheerful, a wonderful website full of stories of people around the world who are making a positive difference. Other worthwhile resources include the Random Acts of Kindness group and Greater Good Magazine.

Embrace the world with both curiosity and skepticism. Look for the good, but be prepared for the few bad actors out there. Most people want to trust and be trusted, to love and be loved. We can't let the haters and cynics divide us anymore. There is too much at stake for a future that is coming whether we believe in it or not.

The author of Hope For Cynics admits that he was mostly inspired by the work Emile Bruneau, an inspiring figure himself. Bruneau was the "founder of the Peace and Conflict Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, has worked to find actionable strategies for healing the divisions between groups such as Israelis and Palestinians, Democrats and Republicans, Muslims and non-Muslims, Hungarians and Roma, Colombians and the FARC, and many others. His mission is to "put science to work for peace." He died of brain cancer at age 47 but inspired all whose lives he touched.

Apparently, hope, like cynicism is contagious. Here's hoping that even in times such as these we all strive to be beacons of hope and not harbingers of doom.