yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Rational Optimism Is the Way Out


2m read
·Nov 3, 2024

Processing might take a few minutes. Refresh later.

In general, professions in which you get your feedback from other members of that profession tend to get corrupted. When you see a journalist writing articles to impress other journalists, or a restauranteur running a restaurant that's designed to impress other foodies and other restaurateurs, those end up not being practical and high quality. They may receive accolades and prizes within certain elite circles, but they're not reflecting reality.

Where someone is getting feedback from either Mother Nature, like a scientist or an experimentalist, or from free markets, where other people are voting with their money and their time, those are going to be much better predictors. The people who are operating in the real world and are getting paid for it tend to be optimists. The people who are operating in ivory towers are incented to be pessimists.

To be an entrepreneur, you need to be optimistic about the fact that you're creating something that other people are going to find value in. People who have a pessimistic philosophy tend to have a pessimistic psychology as well. If you're constantly thinking about all the ways in which the world is going to rack and ruin, then this has a day-to-day impact upon your outlook on the rest of society and on your family, on your friends, on everything. Because you think that this world is condemned, you're going to feel that weight upon your shoulders, and it's going to come through in the way in which you present yourself to the rest of the world.

We see a lot of this on social media right now. Entrepreneurs are typically too busy to spend a whole lot of time on social media. But you do get scientists, academic journalists who are depressed with life because they have a pessimistic view of reality, and that's got to have an impact upon their subjective experience of the world, unlike people who are creating, trying to bring something new into existence.

Unfortunately, the pessimism is self-fulfilling. Here, we take the stance that all evils are due to lack of knowledge. Rational optimism is the way out. The data supports it, history supports it, and we can always come up with good explanations through creativity to improve our lives and everybody else's lives. So stay optimistic.

More Articles

View All
The Biggest Market Crash Of Our Generation Is Coming
What’s up, guys? It’s Graham here. So, I have to make a comment on probably one of the most impactful videos that I have seen in a long time from Patrick Bet-David on Valuetainment, with a warning that the biggest market crash of our generation is here. T…
Similar shapes & transformations
[Instructor] We are told that Shui concluded the quadrilaterals, these two over here, have four pairs of congruent corresponding angles. We can see these right over there. And so, based on that, she concludes that the figures are similar. What error, if a…
Antarctic Wind Beneath My Wings | Continent 7: Antarctica
[music playing] Oh, what’s it doing? It’s still pointing in the right direction? It’s drifting towards us. NARRATOR: Paul is flying the climate team’s $80,000 drone system. And it’s fighting so much wind, it just can’t handle it. NARRATOR: And the winds…
How a Fish Might Grow Your Next Salad | Decoder
This is a seed. It doesn’t look like much right now, but if you … put it in the ground, give it some water, fight off invaders, and wait a little while… After a few weeks with a little luck, you might end up with a head of lettuce. That’s a lot of work fo…
Life is a Game: This is how you win it
Most people you know are not aware that life is a game meant to be won. That’s why you see them feeling stuck, tired, and bored. Well, by the end of this video, not only will you understand the purpose of the game, but the rules and how to win it too. Li…
National Geographic digs into the history behind Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny | Nat Geo
HELENA SHAW: Dad told me you found something. A dial that could change the course of history. HARRISON FORD: With Indiana Jones, I always thought that what would be interesting, is to see this educator adventurer fooling with the nature of science. JAME…