Pathologist and microbiologist René Dubos discusses the idea of the “despairing optimist.” Dubos won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for his book, So Human an Animal: How We Are Shaped by Surroundings and Events (1968). Dubos defines a despairing optimist as “someone who despairs about the state of the world, but cannot avoid a conviction that things will turn out right.” He explains that despite the looming presence of threats like overpopulation, pollution, and war, his “profound faith in human abilities” leads him to believe that negative trends will not continue. As an example, he reflects on his personal experience of the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918. He argues that, despite the severity of the 1918 outbreak, “we will never again experience the equivalent of the Spanish Flu because we can spot it and do something about it.” Dubos also discusses the idea of “future shock–” a term coined by the American futurist Alvin Toffler to describe a collective, anxious response to accelerated innovation in a society. Dubos contends that, precisely because we are so afraid of the negative implications of technology, we will ultimately be able to avoid them. The discussion is followed with questions from the audience.