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That's generally been my experience, too. I have had depressive stretches and pulled out of them, but have always been consistently a "dark" person. Dark doesn'
by _jal 8y ago
That's generally been my experience, too. I have had depressive stretches and pulled out of them, but have always been consistently a "dark" person. Dark doesn't mean unhappy.
It isn't that I "only see negatives", as I've been told endlessly, or just have a dark sense of humor. It is also related being relatively good at security analysis, architecture and troubleshooting - I tend to naturally focus on faults and limits, and reach for a systemic view first. And any time you look at human systems, that's depressing. (That was a joke, there.)
Musically, I used to be more exclusively "dark". That's changed as I've gotten older, but I still find most pop grating. The last few months I've been more on an active listening jag, after thinking I noticed Erik Satie-ish influences on Brian Eno, and then Laurie Anderson and Robert Fripp. (Eno acknowledged this in something I read, I'm less sure about Anderson. Fripp may have just been responding to Eno.)
- opportune 8y agoI think seeing negatives vs. positives might make sense from an evolutionary psych perspective. Pessimistic and cynical people can be good at pointing out flaws in ideas/plans/practices while optimistic people can be good at rationalizing beneficial practices and plans. This applies in both prehistoric tribal society and now in the corporate sphere. Not sure if there is a genetic basis to pessimism vs. optimism but I don't think any is more or less valid than the other
- randcraw 8y agoI think the emphasis on faults and limits rather than on the peak of the bell curve (where 'normal' people reside) is the hallmark of critical thinking in general. Circumspection isn't a 'dark' perspective per se, but one that deliberately resists 'going with the flow', which is assumed by all promotional efforts like PR and advertising. The conventional 'embracing of the light' is inseparable from groupthink, IMHO. Any excess of optimism or advocacy raises my inner defenses and sets off alarm bells. In this, The Age Of The Internet, that thinking isn't 'dark'; it should be common sense. But it's all too uncommon, I fear.