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Daniel Gilbert is the Harvard College Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. His research with Tim Wilson on "affective forecasting" investigates how and how well people can make predictions about[…]

Harvard happiness guru Dan Gilbert delivers his pessimistic forecast.

Question: Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about the way the world is headed?

Dan Gilbert: You know, maybe it’s just this moment in American politics. Maybe it’s the full onset of middle age for me. But I say that, right now, I feel rather pessimistic about the future of the world. I don’t see so many … so much of the progress that I might have hoped for. With that said, it’s clear to me … Although it’s clear to me that the future may be a place that I would be depressed to live in, it’s not clear to me it’s going to be a place that the future people are depressed to live in. They may not miss trees. I would.

Recorded on: 6/12/07

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