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Isn't the argument from the OP's book a Pascal Wager's-esque argument for optimism? It's better to believe that there's hope for the future even if, objective, everything is 100% hosed in every possible aspect because you can't possibly be certain about that so you might as well hope and enact a better future. I think the case for optimism, or at least, active participation in creating an optimistic future is as close to a no-brainer as it gets. Things have gotten wildly better for sapient beings as a whole over the past 10000 years, but progress is a myth and we're only going to get to a better tomorrow if we drag it ourselves kicking and screaming.
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Sep 7, 2018 20:47
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Hot Take:  pessimism is popular precisely because if I believe that everything is hosed and meaningful change is impossible, I don't have to actually try to make things better.I'd rather be right and miserable than face the possibility of change, because change is loving terrifying.
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Sep 8, 2018 20:13
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OwlFancier posted:I'd suggest that blind optimism is not necessarily more enlightened than apathetic pessimism. What is blindly optimistic about "a better tomorrow has to be dragged there kicking and screaming"? The world has been getting better by the blood sweat and tears of people tirelessly working towards it. I'll come out and say it, your pessimism is loving useless and self indulgent. Which honestly surprises me, I had you pegged as a leftist aware and willing to struggle against capitalism.
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Sep 8, 2018 21:50
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Kerning Chameleon posted:I'd rather be correct and die miserable and impotent, than to live on believing in and laboring under the lie of false hope. I consider knowing and accepting the truth more important than anything, even mutual survival or happiness, no matter how painful or despair-inducing it may be. To do otherwise would go against everything I believe in. You don't have some special insight to the true nature of existence, all you have is a belief that is very convenient for what you feel inclined to do.
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Sep 10, 2018 06:56
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