Although I am really careful to avoid getting into any political quagmires, I have noticed what I think is an interesting pattern. Those people in my circle that I always thought of as progressives have turned exceptionally conservative over the last years. These people were fighting for the rights of gay people, minorities and other important causes. These days, however, it seems that every change is frowned upon and it seems that life can only get worse. Artificial intelligence to make us more productive, free people from boring, repetitive work and give us awesome partners in terms of AI agents? Bad. Adopting modern nuclear power plants to reduce CO2 spewed into the atmosphere. Bad. New startups looking to disrupt large, slow, behemoth incumbents. Bad. It seems that everything that suggests change is now viewed as too risky and we simply regulate it to death. In my view, life in the western world is pretty good, but it has the potential to become infinitely much better. But getting from here to there will require change. Change is scary, but it’s also the only way to get to a better place. So, are you a conservative? And if so, what change are you afraid of? Or have we really reached the pinnacle of western civilization?