Pessimism is a barrier to progress
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Pessimism is a barrier to progress
1–10 of 189 posts
Re: Pessimism is a barrier to progress
#2If I could only upvote this ten thousand times.
Re: Pessimism is a barrier to progress
#3As Karl Popper beautifully but it: optimism as a duty.
Re: Pessimism is a barrier to progress
#4Conversely optimism can waste resources on unworkable progress which could have been applied to workable progress. Reality is way more nuanced than single perspectives.
Re: Pessimism is a barrier to progress
#5Conversely optimism can waste resources on unworkable progress which could have been applied to workable progress. Reality is way more nuanced than single perspectives.
Maybe it's both? Say, for some potential project, you rate it X on the pessimism/optimism scale. If you're too pessimistic, you won't attempt it, even though it would have worked out nicely! But if you're too optimistic, you'll waste time attempting it even though it has no chance of success. Perhaps the ideal is to be able to correctly assess the chance of success of projects, and then you can make an accurate allocation of effort :)
Re: Pessimism is a barrier to progress
#6Conversely optimism can waste resources on unworkable progress which could have been applied to workable progress. Reality is way more nuanced than single perspectives.
Traversing nuance can be debilitating for many people. I think over-optimism and going gung-ho can be a good strategy. Not a strategy that comes naturally to me of course, I've wasted many hours/days/weeks trying to figure out the optimal way to do something taking into consideration all of the nuances at play.
Re: Pessimism is a barrier to progress
#7Conversely optimism can waste resources on unworkable progress which could have been applied to workable progress. Reality is way more nuanced than single perspectives.
Reminds me of a version Pandora's Box story. Pandora opens a box of furies on the world, closes it too late in a panic, then hears a little voice in the box, pleading to be let out. In one version, Pandora lets out Hope, who acts as a balm to the pain and trouble caused by the furies. In another version, false Hope is the worst fury of all - a niggling voice that drives you on when there is no possibility of success.
Re: Pessimism is a barrier to progress
#8I've considered myself an optimist for most of my life. But, starting in about 2014 I started to find myself being more of a pessimist more of the time. It got to the point in 2020 where I found myself pessimistic about pretty much everything.
You know what I noticed? It takes a lot of energy to be pessimistic and pissed off all the time.
So, instead, I'm trying to remain focused and motivated by the wrongs I would like to see made right. I'm picking problems which I think I can positively impact. And while I'm not optimistic about much of it, neither am I succumbing to a pessimistic view which leads to not taking action.
It's not binary.
Re: Pessimism is a barrier to progress
#9If I could only upvote this ten thousand times.
What's the point?
Re: Pessimism is a barrier to progress
#10You might want to click through a few times on this. Basically this is WEF propaganda saying how billionaires are good for the world, and urge you not to get in their way with criticism or be labeled a doomsayer, negative Andy or 'pessimist'.