> The pessimistic person defaults to the "risk averse" stance without even understanding the risk (regardless of whether the risk is even calculable or worthy o

> The pessimistic person defaults to the "risk averse" stance without even understanding the risk (regardless of whether the risk is even calculable or worthy of considering). I guess you could say that about "blind pessimism". I guess we can discount both "blind" optimism/pessimism as just irrational, and it doesn't make much sense to discuss those. But I think in the case of "rational optimism", the person might reasonably evaluate the risk, even understand it's low, but still not act, because it doesn't make sense given their goals, risk aversion etc. > I'm not following the logic here. Someone can be optimistic about life, and still prefer a middle class lifestyle. You can also be optimistic and risk averse. Well, you defined optimism as spending 90% looking for opportunities. Now assume, that the person in question already has a middle class lifestyle, they already achieved their goal, have basically what they need to be happy. Why look for opportunities if you already have everything you wanted? Isn't it more rational to rather protect those assets you have and always desired? So I don't think optimism (in the general sense) and risk aversion necessarily contradict each other, but specifically your definition of optimism doesn't fit with the risk aversion IMHO.