this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2024
338 points (89.9% liked)
Technology
59593 readers
3088 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
So if a pilot is in a failing aeroplane and is coming down for a landing that he knows is almost certainly going to lead to death. Having a more optimistic view of the situation is always bad? What about the people on the plane that are either going to die instantly or live, why be scared beforehand.
One of my favourite quotes is:
"The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation."
And this brings me back to optimism. How many times have you watched a sports game where it was shut out and over then in the dying minutes of the game you see a team win it and the commentators will say something like "no one thought that was possible, except for the men on the pitch and at the end of they day that's all that matters"
I can't believe I'm defending optimism because I'm thr least optimistic person in the world.
I'm defending realism even if I'm extremely pessimistic, so... welcome to the club.
From the pilot's PoV, both optimism and pessimism mean the potential loss of the tiny chance of survival - one because it underestimates the effort necessary to achieve the desired result, another for giving it up. While realism is the option that actually allows you to seize that chance, and say "we're probably fucked, but I can increase my odds of survival with my effort".
From the passengers' PoV: if they know that the plane will crash, and can't realistically do anything about it, optimism means wasting their likely last moments of life. While realism means accepting "I'm going to die in a few moments; better grab the gorgonzola from my bag and enjoy it, I probably won't be able to gift it to my cousin. Komm, Susser Tot!"
I don't watch sports, but I think that what I said still applies: optimism leading to less effort than the necessary to win, pessimism leading to giving up, realism leads to a cold analysis of the situation and what should be done to get the best result.