Long Views » Blog Archive » Niall Ferguson & Peter Schwartz, “Historian vs. Futurist on Human Progress”
Questions from the audience ended with one asking whether optimism or pessimism was a more useful way to think about the future. Schwartz said, “Optimism lets you imagine how you can overcome problems, and those possibilities motivate change.” Ferguson said, “You must always focus on worst-case scenarios, and history will teach them to you.”

Sounds like a fascinating seminar. Looking forward to the video.