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Hm, well, this thread doesn't appear on the "ask" section of HN, only in "new", so I think I may have missed something if there's a way to control that. Ration
by waru 16y ago
Hm, well, this thread doesn't appear on the "ask" section of HN, only in "new", so I think I may have missed something if there's a way to control that.
Rationality can definitely lead to pessimism if you're not careful, but I think most pessimism is actually quite irrational. Rationality can also be used to support optimism (for example, it's rationally possible that I become really successful). So I try to live by what I call "optimistic rationality" (if that hasn't been coined already. :) )
- JangoSteve 16y agoIt's there now. Sometimes it takes a minute.
- taphangum 16y ago(i don't know how to quote stuff you've said above so assume i have :)) I think that pessimism and rationality are close cousins. In that modern terms like 'be rational' tend to really mean that we should 'be skeptical'. Which tend to mean that we should 'be pessimistic'
- waru 16y agoThat's true about "Be more rational." (ie "Your idea is stupid; quit being adventurous."). That's why I hesitate to say "rational optimist," because rational as an adjective has such skeptical, pessimistic connotations. Some "skeptics" drive me nuts.