Optimism by Numbers
Evidence-based optimism

The numbers tell
a different story.

A weekly newsletter tracking the unlocks — the breakthroughs that remove big barriers and let human progress scale. Apolitical. Data-driven. Focused on what's actually happening, even when it doesn't make headlines.

All Issues
05
Latest Issue
The Speed of Certainty: How We Are Ending the Medical "Waiting Room"
DNA sequencing has gone from weeks to five hours. Inside the quiet revolution that is turning genetic uncertainty into precision medicine — from NICUs in California to remote clinics in sub-Saharan Africa.
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04
Issue 4
Solar Meets the Cold Chain: Last Mile Progress in India
How the falling cost of solar power is solving one of global health's most stubborn problems — keeping vaccines cold in places the grid never reached.
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03
Issue 3
The Pocket Unlock: Mobile Phones Changing the World
Three billion people now carry a supercomputer in their pocket. The downstream effects — on banking, agriculture, healthcare, and education — are only beginning to show up in the data.
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02
Issue 2
The Unlock That is Illuminating Biology
The Human Genome Project was the map. CRISPR, CAR-T therapy, and mRNA vaccines are what happens when you finally learn to read it.
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01
Issue 1
The Quiet Power That is Changing Everything: Electricity Since 2000
A billion people have gained access to electricity in the past two decades. This is what happened next — and why it matters more than almost any other number in the world.
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About

Why this newsletter exists

I started this newsletter because I got tired of the constant stream of bad news. Every headline seemed designed to convince me the world was falling apart. But when I look at the data — the actual numbers, not the stories — I see something different. Quiet, steady progress. Things getting better in ways most people don't notice or talk about.

This isn't futuristic hype, and it doesn't ignore real problems. It's a weekly look at what's actually happening and why. Evidence-based, apolitical, and focused on the past 25 years — close enough to be relevant, long enough to see the trend.

If you're curious, a bit weary of negativity, and open to facts that reframe how you see the world — you're in the right place.