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
This video is about your mom..
[Music] The adipose tissue in your female parent is so abundant that once she dons elevated footwear, she is able to unearth reserves of petroleum. In other words, your mom is so fat that when she wears high heels she strikes oil. And not to offend you or…
Why Does the Moon Orbit Earth?
Now tell me what does the moon do? Uh, the moon orbits the Earth. I know it. Let’s do an orbit. Can we do an orbit? Okay, so go like this. I’m guessing, I’m guessing around, around. If you will, you spinning it? Are you going to… doesn’t it stay? Isn’t it…
Why Should I Start a Startup? by Michael Seibel
Alright, Michael Seibel. So today, we’re gonna do something different and talk about a few of the essays you’ve worked on in the past. I think these are maybe the past two years. Yes, so the first one is “Why Should I Start a Startup?” You start this ess…
How to Build Success by Doing Easy Things (Animation)
This video is a collaboration with Beautiful Science. Be sure to check out their incredible channel after the video. So, if you’re like most people, you’ve had a vision of your potential future self. The more successful, better-groomed, richer, happier v…
We WILL Fix Climate Change!
Our home is burning. Rapid climate change is destabilizing our world. It seems our emissions will not fall quickly enough to avoid runaway warming, and we may soon hit tipping points that will lead to the collapse of ecosystems and our civilization. While…
Into the Ocean | Branching Out | Part 3
[Music] As we eco-road trip across this amazing land, we can’t forget the rivers we’ve crossed and the waves crashing beside coastal roads. More than 70 percent of our planet is covered in water, and more than 96 of that is in our oceans. Unfortunately, 1…