Are you an optimist?
Poll: Are you an optimist?
Total Members Polled: 72
Discussion
Was chatting to the wife whilst walking the dog this morning. She said it was sad to see that my natural optimism seems to have taken a beating over the years. It’s true that I’ve become more cynical over the years.
When I was young I thought that the state of the world would get better over my lifetime. Clearly in some respects it has eg overall health has increased, infant mortality is down and the world is more peaceful. Yet environmental destruction has got worse, the countries that were dirt poor and politically repressed eg most of Africa are still relatively poor with very little democracy and little hope for the future (which is why most people under 40 want to emigrate to the west). Even politically we seem to be going backwards. I thought that intolerance, ignorance, racism, sexism and homophobia would be much less today yet the success of Trump and other populists with extreme ideologies has shown that to be a false hope. And now we seem to have slipped back into the Cold War too.
So are you optimistic or pessimistic? Is a slip from one to the other an inevitable part of ageing for many people?
When I was young I thought that the state of the world would get better over my lifetime. Clearly in some respects it has eg overall health has increased, infant mortality is down and the world is more peaceful. Yet environmental destruction has got worse, the countries that were dirt poor and politically repressed eg most of Africa are still relatively poor with very little democracy and little hope for the future (which is why most people under 40 want to emigrate to the west). Even politically we seem to be going backwards. I thought that intolerance, ignorance, racism, sexism and homophobia would be much less today yet the success of Trump and other populists with extreme ideologies has shown that to be a false hope. And now we seem to have slipped back into the Cold War too.
So are you optimistic or pessimistic? Is a slip from one to the other an inevitable part of ageing for many people?
Edited by Esceptico on Friday 11th March 02:18
I have ups and downs where optimism on concerned.
Sometimes I'm very pessimistic I think that's usually when I'm relying on others to do something though
When I'm doing something myself I'm fairly optimistic about things have have the it will be alright attitude.
My wife thinks I'm a bit bi polar, she may have a point.
Sometimes I'm very pessimistic I think that's usually when I'm relying on others to do something though
When I'm doing something myself I'm fairly optimistic about things have have the it will be alright attitude.
My wife thinks I'm a bit bi polar, she may have a point.
Esceptico said:
Was chatting to the wife whilst walking the dog this morning. She said it was sad to see that my natural optimism seems to have taken a beating over the years. It’s true that I’ve become more cynical over the years.
When I was young I thought that the state of the world would get better over my lifetime. Clearly in some respects it has eg overall health has increased, infant mortality is down and the world is more peaceful. Yet environmental destruction has got worse, the countries that were dirt poor and politically repressed eg most of Africa are still relatively poor with very little democracy and little hope for the future (which is why most people under 40 want to emigrate to the west). Even politically we seem to be going backwards. I thought that intolerance, ignorance, racism, sexism and homophobia would be much less today yet the success of Trump and other populists with extreme ideologies has shown that to be a false hope. And now we seem to have slipped back into the Cold War too.
So are you optimistic or pessimistic? Is a slip from one to the other an inevitable part of ageing for many people?
It seems to me you are thinking too much about what other people in the world have done or are doing.When I was young I thought that the state of the world would get better over my lifetime. Clearly in some respects it has eg overall health has increased, infant mortality is down and the world is more peaceful. Yet environmental destruction has got worse, the countries that were dirt poor and politically repressed eg most of Africa are still relatively poor with very little democracy and little hope for the future (which is why most people under 40 want to emigrate to the west). Even politically we seem to be going backwards. I thought that intolerance, ignorance, racism, sexism and homophobia would be much less today yet the success of Trump and other populists with extreme ideologies has shown that to be a false hope. And now we seem to have slipped back into the Cold War too.
So are you optimistic or pessimistic? Is a slip from one to the other an inevitable part of ageing for many people?
Edited by Esceptico on Friday 11th March 02:18
Sod em!
I get on with my life and don't worry about stuff I can't control or can do anything about.
I'm optimistic about stuff I want to do.
Not sure I necessarily conflate cynicism with pessimism.
I am and always have been deeply cynical about the world and especially about people. But it has never stopped me from being optimistic about eventual outcomes, and particularly about things that I have a degree of control over.
Don't think I could have survived in (my own) businesses without that combination.
k
I am and always have been deeply cynical about the world and especially about people. But it has never stopped me from being optimistic about eventual outcomes, and particularly about things that I have a degree of control over.
Don't think I could have survived in (my own) businesses without that combination.
k
klootzak said:
I am and always have been deeply cynical about the world and especially about people. But it has never stopped me from being optimistic about eventual outcomes, and particularly about things that I have a degree of control over.
I’d go with this. I’m not expecting world peace any time soon but I think staying reasonably upbeat about the things I can do something about is a good way of making decent outcomes more likely. Optimistic. I know bad s
t goes on in the world and I'm cynical about almost everything. In an odd way I try to rise above it and find the best way to quietly navigate my own tiny life. All I can do is live well with the people I encounter. I can't control the big global st, so while I hope it improves, me worrying about it won't help one bit.
t goes on in the world and I'm cynical about almost everything. In an odd way I try to rise above it and find the best way to quietly navigate my own tiny life. All I can do is live well with the people I encounter. I can't control the big global st, so while I hope it improves, me worrying about it won't help one bit.Short term pessimist long term optimist.
Polticians are self serving scum bags who are only kept anything like honest by having an opposition full of self serving scumbags trying to catch them out at every turn and another hoard of self serving scumbags ready to gleefully trumpet every failing through the media in order to get viewers, listeners and readers.
Businesses big and small are amoral organisations with the single purpose of extracting maximum profit from minimal effort and risk. They are kept somewhat honest by equally hungry competitors ready to undercut, copy, block or otherwise screw each other over to maximise their own profits.
The population as a whole are lazy, apathetic, ignorant and petty. They will vote for anyone who promises the earth with little thought as to how it will be delivered.; consume the most sensationalist, banal media going and buy from the most amoral and destructive companies going if it gets them their desired tat at the right price.
Academia, technology, diplomacy and whole other fields that demand the greatest minds manage to hoover the greatest minds in then apply them to their own self centred purposes. Skilled, conscientious people from brain surgeons to carpenters to shop assistants are being replaced by robots.
And yet when you put it all together the world's 8 billion people all grabbing what they can and doing whatever they can get away with aren't actually doing too badly. More people are better fed, housed, clothed and educated than at any time before. In very recent history the idea of starving due to a bad harvest has all but disappeared. The notion that you can simply throw your toxic waste in the river and bad luck for those who fish and bathe in it is in serious retreat. Even the idea that a large powerful country can invade and dominate its neighbours is getting short shrift at the moment.
The very selfishness that makes us ugly, flawed and dangerous creatures can when harnessed and balanced against the selfishness of others in a framework for peaceful, mutually beneficial coexistence becomes an incredible force for good. We have a better grasp of what that looks like than ever before and a real hunger for it. Even if the process of recognising that seems faltering and uncertain it is important to remember how new it really is in the scheme of things. We still haven't got it entirely right, but whether you date it to the fall of communism, the end of WW2, the enlightenment, Jesus, Athens or whatever in our known history, it is the blink of an eye, and there's plenty more to come.
Polticians are self serving scum bags who are only kept anything like honest by having an opposition full of self serving scumbags trying to catch them out at every turn and another hoard of self serving scumbags ready to gleefully trumpet every failing through the media in order to get viewers, listeners and readers.
Businesses big and small are amoral organisations with the single purpose of extracting maximum profit from minimal effort and risk. They are kept somewhat honest by equally hungry competitors ready to undercut, copy, block or otherwise screw each other over to maximise their own profits.
The population as a whole are lazy, apathetic, ignorant and petty. They will vote for anyone who promises the earth with little thought as to how it will be delivered.; consume the most sensationalist, banal media going and buy from the most amoral and destructive companies going if it gets them their desired tat at the right price.
Academia, technology, diplomacy and whole other fields that demand the greatest minds manage to hoover the greatest minds in then apply them to their own self centred purposes. Skilled, conscientious people from brain surgeons to carpenters to shop assistants are being replaced by robots.
And yet when you put it all together the world's 8 billion people all grabbing what they can and doing whatever they can get away with aren't actually doing too badly. More people are better fed, housed, clothed and educated than at any time before. In very recent history the idea of starving due to a bad harvest has all but disappeared. The notion that you can simply throw your toxic waste in the river and bad luck for those who fish and bathe in it is in serious retreat. Even the idea that a large powerful country can invade and dominate its neighbours is getting short shrift at the moment.
The very selfishness that makes us ugly, flawed and dangerous creatures can when harnessed and balanced against the selfishness of others in a framework for peaceful, mutually beneficial coexistence becomes an incredible force for good. We have a better grasp of what that looks like than ever before and a real hunger for it. Even if the process of recognising that seems faltering and uncertain it is important to remember how new it really is in the scheme of things. We still haven't got it entirely right, but whether you date it to the fall of communism, the end of WW2, the enlightenment, Jesus, Athens or whatever in our known history, it is the blink of an eye, and there's plenty more to come.
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