Twee, poetic, absurdist aesthetics (think Decembrists or peak Wes Anderson)? They feel “pretentious” or “self-indulgent” today.
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Weird Pessimist stuff can read as “what a perverse jerk”; Weird Optimist stuff reads as “what a clueless prat”. Foolish. Silly.
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Safety Dance and Weird Al are Weird Optimist.
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Stoner and raver culture are Weird Optimist.
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Most online content I see is fights between different factions of Weird Pessimists, with Normal Optimists stepping in to tell others not to be so “negative” or to add jokes, cute animals, or promotional materials.
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Once in a while Normal Pessimists pipe up to tell everyone how much they suck.
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HPMOR and the LessWrong Sequences were firmly Weird Optimist, which is why I think they’ve gotten so much flak in recent years. Robin Hanson, though, has always been Weird Pessimist, like most public intellectuals. And EA is a Normal Optimist movement.
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Crooked Timber and Harper’s are Weird Pessimist publications. Most academics in the humanities are Weird Pessimists.
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Reply and I’ll categorize your Twitter.
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Replying to @s_r_constantin
I feel neatly spread across two of these quadrants
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Weird Optimist/Weird Pessimist
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Replying to @s_r_constantin
Oh good, you see it
I feel like embracing the dual “violently optimistic / earnestly pessimistic” aesthetic is a net benefit
Come to think of it, maybe that’s what we have in common on Team Skull @kintsukuroikun1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @whyevernotso @s_r_constantin
Good Lord. Violently optimistic, earnestly pessimistic. That is masterful.
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