Growth in the midst of darkness is not unprecedented: our biological and intellectual ancestors got us here with the same total ignorance about their future. The difference from the historical path is that we will be doing it consciously—we are aware of our ignorance—hence the need for optimism. We can anticipate surprises, but we still have to rely on human resilience, in our ability to live through the most appalling personal and public tragedies and still go on. This is an aspect that many technological optimists have underestimated.
