What are you optimistic about?

[Aegis]

Not sure whether this should go in CE or the Science forum. I think it has broader reaches than just the world of science and deals with a wide range of current and soon-to-be current events so I'll put it here.

Every year the Edge Foundation poses a question to its members and publishes the responses online. This years question is "What are you optimistic about? Why?". It's fascinating to read through the responses of some of the top science and technology experts in the world. I'm not sure how we can structure a discussion around this because the responses are so diverse but hopefully some sort of debate arises

As an activity, as a state of mind, science is fundamentally optimistic. Science figures out how things work and thus can make them work better. Much of the news is either good news or news that can be made good, thanks to ever deepening knowledge and ever more efficient and powerful tools and techniques. Science, on its frontiers, poses more and ever better questions, ever better put.

What are you optimistic about? Why? Surprise us!

What are you optimistic about?

[Ravenclaw]

i'm optimistic because in 2100 per capita GDP will be 10,000,000 and i will be taking out a loan to buy an aircraft carrier on a normal workers wage.

[Break the Cycle]

I regard myself as a 'cynical optimist.' I always try and look at the up side of most things, but i'm well aware what most people do is for themselves ultimately, or perhaps a better way to put it is 'self motivated.' A cautious optimist.

[K.I.L.E.R]

I'm optimistic that Iraq will be a peaceful nation in 3 months time.

[leggit]

Im optimistic about the, near future, possibility of all phones being constantly connected to the internet via wimax and running voip software so that calls are free. Payment would be similar to your current internet connection, pay by month quota counted . This would considerably drop telstras hold on the cell and wired networks. YEEE HAA!

[noboundaries-au]

Personally Im just optimistic abotu everything. Future > Past

Originally Posted by Ravenclaw

i'm optimistic because in 2100 per capita GDP will be 10,000,000 and i will be taking out a loan to buy an aircraft carrier on a normal workers wage.

Correct me if im wrong... but that would be completely impossible due to inflation, and supply and demand

[Ravenclaw]

Originally Posted by noboundaries-au

Personally Im just optimistic abotu everything. Future > Past



Correct me if im wrong... but that would be completely impossible due to inflation, and supply and demand

the 10,000,000 is in 2000 dollars so inflation wouldn't be a problem but aircraft carriers might be a bit more scarce in 2100.

[noboundaries-au]

Originally Posted by Ravenclaw

but aircraft carriers might be a bit more scarce in 2100.

haha, true... perhaps a hovership then

[knowsfords]

I'm optimistic that I will visit mars as an old man.

[jas0nt]

stem cell research

i believe with a continuation of government support into this research we will someday revolutionise medicine.

[cam99]

I am optimistic the the future wont repeat the past.

[swamp rat]

Another good question from the edge is "What do you believe to be true, even without proof"
http://www.edge.org/q2005/q05_print.html

RANDOLPH NESSE, M.D.
Psychiatrist, University of Michigan; Coauthor, Why We Get Sick

I can't prove it, but I am pretty sure that people gain a selective advantage from believing in things they can't prove. I am dead serious about this. People who are sometimes consumed by false beliefs do better than those who insist on evidence before they believe and act. People who are sometimes swept away by emotions do better in life than those who calculate every move. These advantages have, I believe, shaped mental capacities for intense emotion and passionate beliefs because they give a selective advantage in certain situations.

I am not advocating for irrationality or extreme emotionality. Many, perhaps even most problems of individuals and groups arise from actions based on passion. The Greek initiators and Enlightenment implementers recognized correctly that the world would be better off if reason displaced superstition and crude emotion. I have no interest in going back on that road and fundamentalism remains a severe threat to enlightened civilization. I am arguing, however, that if we want to understand these tendencies we need to quit dismissing them as defects and start considering how they came to exist.

I came to this belief from seeing psychiatric patients while studying game theory and evolutionary biology. Many patients are consumed by fears, sadness, and other emotions they find painful and senseless. Others are crippled by grandiose fantasies or bizarre beliefs. On the other side are those with obsessive compulsive personality. They do not have obsessive compulsive disorder; they do not wash and count all day. They have obsessive compulsive personality characterized by hyper-rationality. They are mystified by other people's emotional outbursts. They do their duty and expect others will too. They are often disappointed in this, giving rise to frequent resentment if not anger. They trade favors according to the rules, and they can't fathom genuine generosity or spiteful hatred.

People who lack passions suffer several disadvantages. When social life results in situations that can be mapped onto game theory, regular predictable behavior is a strategy inferior to allocating actions randomly among the options. The angry person who might seek spiteful revenge is a force to be reckoned with, while a sensible opponent can be easily dealt with. The passionate lover sweeps away a superior but all too practical offer of marriage.

It is harder to explain the disadvantages suffered by people who lack a capacity for faith, but consider the outcomes for those who wait for proof before acting, compared to the those who act on confident conviction. The great things in life are done by people who go ahead when it seems senseless to others. Usually they fail, but sometimes they succeed.

Like nearly every other trait, tendencies for passionate emotions and irrational convictions are most advantageous in some middle range. The optimum for modern life seems to me to be quite a ways towards the rational side of the median, but there are advantages and disadvantages at every point along the spectrum. Making human life better requires that we understand these capacities, and to do that we must seek their origins and functions. I cannot prove this is true, but I believe it is. This belief spurs my search for evidence which will either strengthen my conviction or, if I can discipline my mind sufficiently, convince me that it is false.

Irrationality has a selective advantage. That's fricking deep man

[influx]

psychologically healthy human beings are fundamental cognitive optimists. it is thought that this serves a function in maintaining basic self-esteem and protection of the ego. it is well known for example that people with clinical depression make less optimistic, and consequently more accurate, judgements about themselves, their merits relative to others, the future, social attributions, in select cases. it says something that in many ways depressed people have a more realistic worldview than people who are psychologically healthy.

[crosshair]

Originally Posted by influx

psychologically healthy human beings are fundamental cognitive optimists. it is thought that this serves a function in maintaining basic self-esteem and protection of the ego. it is well known for example that people with clinical depression make less optimistic, and consequently more accurate, judgements about themselves, their merits relative to others, the future, social attributions, in select cases. it says something that in many ways depressed people have a more realistic worldview than people who are psychologically healthy.

o/topic
i am on medication for depression, and as you have stated, i have found that optimism for the future is at zero. Compared to a mate of mine who constantly sees opertunity at every angle but makes what i believe are foolish decisions.
Its a very interesting subject none the less.

My optimism lies with unlocking the mind better as we progress technologically with medical imaging, rather than a new batch of re-uptake inhibators (drugs), maybe electronic pulse or frequency can be utilized to correct problems.... Empty jails anyone?

[yanman]

optimistic about biomechanical and nanoscale advancements that lead to easy treatments for all manner of health problems, but more importantly sustaining the body in great health.