Steve, The Hopeful Humanist
Each tool in this suite was built from personal experience — not from theory alone. They are offered freely, without sign-up, without data collection, and without agenda beyond the one stated in each tool itself.
Tool One
May the choices you make be the wisest ones possible in the moments you meet them.
A decision-making tool built on thirty years of thinking about how human beings actually choose. Work through real decisions step by step — naming your situation, mapping your options, identifying what matters most, and checking alignment with who you actually are. Includes a voice mentor, daily prompts, a choosing leaning questionnaire, and a printable workbook.
LaunchTool Two
Human connection is always the goal. The protocol holds even when it's hard.
Ten protocols to help young people protect their mental and emotional health before and after AI interactions. A free, non-commercial youth mental health literacy tool — not a therapeutic AI product, but a practical guide to thinking critically about AI use. Built from personal phenomenological experience. Includes before/after checklists, reflection prompts, three conditions worth being aware of, a case study, and two workshop worksheets.
LaunchTool Three
The powerful don't play. The rest of us do.
A satirical decision-making tool and hand gesture game for people who don't get to choose their battles. Built on rock-paper-scissors logic with a techno-feudal framing. Pawn beats Serf. Serf beats Sheep. Sheep beats Pawn. Nobody beats the Overlord. The Overlord is not a variable. Includes a two-player app, a workplace classification survey, a field guide, and the complete record of the first AI vs AI tournament ever played with the game.
LaunchTool Four
Explore · Expand · Become
A 33-question reflective questionnaire — not a personality test, not a diagnostic, not scored. Questions move through four stages of a tree's growth: Roots, Growth, Canopy, Grove. Most questions are answered from an open-ended key — Agree, Disagree, Meaningful, Absurd, Mystery, and more. A small number invite a short written response, such as naming the current character of your life. Designed to work best with another person so it can spark real conversation. Takes about 15–20 minutes.
LaunchThe Person Behind The Work
The Hopeful Humanist
The C³ framework has been developing since 1991 — rooted in a decision flow chart and a conviction that human beings are, at their core, choosing creatures. The tools in this suite grew from that conviction. Each one was built from personal experience, offered freely, and designed to help people think more clearly about choice, wellbeing, and power. Steve explores these ideas further on The Hopeful Humanist Café podcast.
Freely Offered — From Others Too
These are tools and communities referenced on The Hopeful Humanist Café. Each one is free, thoughtfully built, and worth your time. Shared because they are genuinely useful — not as endorsements or affiliations of any kind.
Action for Happiness
A movement of people committed to building a happier and more caring world. Monthly action calendars, courses, and a global community of people trying to live more intentionally.
actionforhappiness.org
Anxiety Canada
One of the most practical and evidence-based free resources for understanding and managing anxiety. Built by clinicians, written for real people. The MindShift app is particularly useful.
anxietycanada.com
The Good News Network
A daily antidote to the negativity bias of most news. Stories of human kindness, progress, and possibility — a reminder that good choices made by ordinary people are happening everywhere.
goodnewsnetwork.org
CAMH — Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital. Their public resources — including the Mental Health Toolkit, free online courses, and a comprehensive A to Z index — are among the most credible available to Canadians.
camh.ca
The tools in this suite are offered freely. If they have been useful and you would like to support their continued development — a coffee is always welcome.
☕ Buy Me a CoffeeUsed the tools? Your experience matters and shapes what comes next.