That SuckedinfopracticalAugust 24 2008, 18:28:43 UTC
I disagree completely with you and the last poster. That sucked. Why?
I'd say that optimists think they know the future will be good, pessimists think they know the future will be bad and realists think the future is unknowable. Thus I don't subscribe to the aphoristic notion that pessimism or depression are the conditions of viewing things realistically, since it's not realistic to believe you can predict the long term at all.To start from the notion that we cannot predict anything about the long term future at all -- now THAT'S delusional. If we had no predictive ability whatsoever, we wouldn't plan for the long term at all. It would be irrational. But survival of the fittest had, quite demonstrably, populated this planet with people who have the ability to plan for the long haul, and do so readily, if not instinctively
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Re: That SuckedcolinmarshallAugust 24 2008, 18:42:37 UTC
Ssh! You've uncovered my Final Solution for world population reduction. Clearly, I need to add more flowers to my prose to distract those who would ruin my scheme.
You've got a pretty cool-lookin' journal, by the way, from what I can see of it - added.
Re: That SuckedinfopracticalAugust 24 2008, 19:06:02 UTC
Ssh! You've uncovered my Final Solution for world population reduction.
I don't find that notion nearly so entertaining as you do. I wasn't being flip. Every time I see people build up the notion that negative future assessment is delusional -- without taking at least some effort to step into the shoes of that person -- it's very hard for me not to see it as an attack on people who aren't like them, whether conscious (usually not) or unconscious (usually so).
I don't play games with my opinions about an issue like hopeless pain.
Re: That SuckedcolinmarshallAugust 24 2008, 19:15:46 UTC
Well, the idea is to ultimately get the world's population down to one - me - so that I can drive stolen cars through forests and eat canned food and stuff. But I'm starting to think that's unrealistic.
At any rate, my assessment comes from an effort to step into the shoes of friends I've had who've suffered under these conditions, not to distance myself from them. If I'm saying that negative future assessment is delusional, I'd only mean "has a low probability of tracking to reality". And I'm not saying the person is stupid or anything; just that their particular belief about the road ahead may be way implausibly convicted and specific in its negativity. I find myself holding the same sort of beliefs, albeit on a much smaller scale, all the time, and have to work to remind myself that my detailed predictions of gloom and doom are, most of the time, unempirical nonsense.
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Thanks.
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I'd say that optimists think they know the future will be good, pessimists think they know the future will be bad and realists think the future is unknowable. Thus I don't subscribe to the aphoristic notion that pessimism or depression are the conditions of viewing things realistically, since it's not realistic to believe you can predict the long term at all.To start from the notion that we cannot predict anything about the long term future at all -- now THAT'S delusional. If we had no predictive ability whatsoever, we wouldn't plan for the long term at all. It would be irrational. But survival of the fittest had, quite demonstrably, populated this planet with people who have the ability to plan for the long haul, and do so readily, if not instinctively ( ... )
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You've got a pretty cool-lookin' journal, by the way, from what I can see of it - added.
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I don't find that notion nearly so entertaining as you do. I wasn't being flip. Every time I see people build up the notion that negative future assessment is delusional -- without taking at least some effort to step into the shoes of that person -- it's very hard for me not to see it as an attack on people who aren't like them, whether conscious (usually not) or unconscious (usually so).
I don't play games with my opinions about an issue like hopeless pain.
Reply
At any rate, my assessment comes from an effort to step into the shoes of friends I've had who've suffered under these conditions, not to distance myself from them. If I'm saying that negative future assessment is delusional, I'd only mean "has a low probability of tracking to reality". And I'm not saying the person is stupid or anything; just that their particular belief about the road ahead may be way implausibly convicted and specific in its negativity. I find myself holding the same sort of beliefs, albeit on a much smaller scale, all the time, and have to work to remind myself that my detailed predictions of gloom and doom are, most of the time, unempirical nonsense.
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