💡 Premium Supporter recap + fact-based optimistic news
🚭 Americans who smoke has dropped to a historic low. 🏠 Americans have tripled their living space. 💓 People who practice empathy with AI get better at showing compassion.
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😐 An apology
I’ll start with an apology, as I didn’t send a premium article on Tuesday.
The past week has been hectic, including several talks. When I looked at my calendar, I wasn’t a fact-based optimist, but overly optimistic about how much I could get done.
🔊 Over a thousand streams
According to the latest statistics (which are five days old), my song – Arise, arise – and its different versions have now passed a thousand streams on Spotify. Thanks to all of you who listened!
If you want to make your own version, it’s available on Suno.
Mathias Sundin
The Angry Optimist
💡 Fact-based optimistic news of the week
☀️ Bihar gives 250,000 poor families free rooftop solar panels
The Indian state of Bihar is installing solar panels at no cost for families living below the poverty line. The families will have zero electricity costs for basic usage such as fans, lighting and mobile charging. In the first phase, 250,000 households will receive solar panels
💓 People who practice empathy with AI get better at showing compassion
A study with 968 participants shows that personalized feedback from an AI coach makes people significantly better at communicating with empathy. People who feel empathy often fail to express it – most believed they were good listeners, but independent assessment showed that few actually were.
📰 Trust in journalists has nearly doubled in 20 years
44 percent of Swedes have high or fairly high trust in journalists, according to the latest survey from the SOM Institute. The share has risen from 24 percent in 2004, nearly doubling over two decades. At the same time, the share who think journalists do their job poorly has been cut in half.
🚭 The share of Americans who smoke has dropped to a historic low
Less than ten percent of American adults smoked cigarettes in 2024, the first time the rate has reached single digits. Reduced smoking has contributed to nearly four million lung cancer deaths being averted between 1970 and 2022.
🏠 Americans have tripled their living space per person since 1950
The average living space per person in the US has increased from about 290 square feet in 1950 to over 890 square feet in 2024. The share of overcrowded homes has fallen from over 20% in 1940 to under 6%.
🦋 Rewilding in Scotland leads to sharply increased biodiversity
Rewilded land in Scotland has increased the number of suitable breeding territories for birds by 546% compared to non-rewilded land. The number of bumblebees and butterflies has increased more than tenfold, and the network is now estimated to support 2.5 million pollinating insects.
🧒 Child poverty in Sweden drops to lowest level in ten years
The share of children living in families with a low income standard has fallen from 10 percent to 6 percent since 2014. 56 percent of all children live in families with a high income standard, that corresponds to more than 1.2 million children.
🎙️ AI talk or master class?
I'm giving a lot of talks and master classes on AI in several different countries. Happy to come to your organization.
Learn more at mathiassundin.org.
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