Support for Explaned to Me comes from Starbucks, vibing to the hook of your favorite song,

stepping outside and immediately feeling the sun on your face, sipping a refreshing drink.

Those are the moments that energize us. And if that third one sounds particularly enticing,

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Where do we find hope in this world? I think, frankly, that optimism is a denial of reality.

My real everyday world is nothing like what the media often makes it out to be.

And that gives me hope.

On this show, we try to give you useful info to help you navigate the world around you.

But real talk, there's an elephant in the room. Like, we're on the cusp of a technological revolution, and it might come for all of our jobs. Or here's how you can

show up for your community in a crisis, because the government isn't going to help. Or want some

financial advice?

Well, just kidding.

The global economy is unstable and the world's falling apart.

And yet somehow we have to go to work and do laundry and prepare for the future.

There must be a way to face this.

I'm John Glyn Hill, and this week on Explain It to Me from Vox, we're going to find out how together.

My name is Jemeel Zaki. I'm a professor of psychology at Stanford.

I run a lab where we study things like empathy and kindness and the way that people show up for one

another. And I'm an author. My latest book is called Hope for Cynics. Okay, Jamil Zaki, friend of the

show. What is the difference between hope and optimism? I feel like we use them interchangeably,

but is there a difference? Huge difference. And this is really

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