When Johan was 15, he hated modern life.

He hated how highways, cars, and factories destroyed nature’s beauty, and he hated the hustle, bustle, and stress of modernity.

Johan yearned for the past—for a simpler, happier time. “I looked at the kind of life that my farmer ancestors in northern Sweden lived. I imagined the region as unspoiled and beautiful, and their life as simple and natural. There, I thought, were the good old days.”

Johan was miserable. In his own words, he was “philosophically depressed.” How could he find happiness in a world like this?

Now, he’s a thriving author who travels the world promoting human progress.

What changed? He learned about history—and mankind’s long journey from struggle to abundance.

“Whatever period I read about, and whichever region I turned to, the ‘good old days’ were nowhere to be found. . . . I found that the desperate struggle to find something, anything, to feed your family and stave off hunger for another few weeks was the defining experience of all previous eras.

My ancestors in northern Sweden had not lived a good life; they had fought hard for food, shelter, and clothing, and when the weather was bad, the crop failed, and they starved.”

But Johan still had a problem. He still felt that the scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs—were, if not evil, then creating a hostile and ugly world.

Then he read Ayn Rand. “For the first time, I read someone who talked about man as a heroic being, with happiness as his moral purpose, and science, technology, and industry his noblest activities.”

This shaped Johan into who he is today—and has given him a purpose: to share his love of progress with the world.

Johan will speak at LevelUp Europe on the golden ages of history—and the role freedom played in creating the world we live in today.