Letter Never Sent - Latest Comments in One question

Re: One question

pzriddle — Mon, 03 Feb 2003 21:20:52 -0000

Easy: optimists get to be happy, pessimists get to be right.

Seriously, I recall hearing about some sort of study which claimed that depressed people were more accurate in their predictions about the future than non-depressed people. Being right didn't make the depressed people less depressed. Perhaps depression is simply a malfunction in an organism's naturally occuring bias toward optimism. If a person (or a coyote or a manatee or a mole rat) is realistic rather than optimistic, surely that interferes with his or her chances of reproducing.

Re: One question

Col. James Braddock — Wed, 08 Jan 2003 15:05:19 -0000

Chris,

As for false happiness. I hate to use the term because I despise it as much as you may, but ignorance is bliss. The person that is happy under false pretenses is still happy. Now if you mean that false happiness means they are acting like they are happy when they aren't. That is another thing.. that person is not optimistic by any means. (notice i did not use the term that refers to a static way of being)

Re: One question

Col. James Braddock — Wed, 08 Jan 2003 15:01:35 -0000

drublood, you are right that people are dynamic and always changing. It is also true that some people develop certain personality traits that make them more or less likely to perceive a positive outcome to a situation. While I would be hesitant to label myself one or the other, people often display the traits of acting optimistically or pessimistically.

Re: One question

Lisa B-K — Wed, 08 Jan 2003 13:37:56 -0000

There's a book I was reading...Learned Optimism. You should have a look.

Re: One question

drublood — Tue, 07 Jan 2003 15:04:35 -0000

There's no such thing as a pessimist or an optimist. People are dynamic, and those two terms describe static ways of being.

Re: One question

chris — Tue, 07 Jan 2003 13:40:15 -0000

What if its based on false happiness?

Re: One question

Col. James Braddock - Half Ful — Tue, 07 Jan 2003 12:05:49 -0000

Optimists are happier. If they are disappointed by the outcome of a situation, they look can always forward to the future toward the bright side of things. I'd rather be an optimist and happy and sometimes disappointed. A pessimist never expects anything good to happen.