Who will build Africa’s future?

[africancoder]

Thiel says how you see the future shapes what you do about it:

1. Definite optimism The future will be better, and we can build it.
2. Indefinite optimism It’ll be better somehow, so why plan?
3. Definite pessimism It’ll be worse, so prepare.
4. Indefinite pessimism It’ll be worse, and nothing can be done.

I think in Africa, we’re often split between two groups and both are stuck.

One group is indefinitely optimistic: they hope the future will be better, but have no plan for how.

The other is indefinitely pessimistic: they see clearly that the future looks bad if we continue the way we’re going, but they do nothing about it. They simply accept it.

Neither hoping nor accepting builds anything.

And I think we don’t need everyone. we need a few people crazy enough to become definite optimists people who see the same hard truths about where we’re headed, but instead of accepting them, decide to build a different future, deliberately.

The future isn’t something that happens to us. We build it.