Normal Optimist things: most mainstream media, Disney, corporate PR, technocracy, performing personal excellence (like fitness or mental/emotional health), explicitly calling for “positivity”, etc.
-
-
Normal Optimism is Winnerism. Support whoever is winning, believe whatever gives you relative social power. Follow and amplify incentive gradients. Of course it’s healthy to want to win — and a fair critique of Weird Pessimists that they have an unhealthy resentment of success.
Show this thread -
But throwing all resources into a zero-sum conflict destroys the possibility of any future for humans.
Show this thread -
There’s a Normal Optimist thing that’s *just* being supportive and encouraging, without trying to take resources or status away from anybody else, and I think it’s mostly good, just unlikely to be very influential.
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
Could normal optimists help by repackaging and marketing weird optimism to normal optimists/pessimists? Normal pessimists are important for maintaining safety, but do they help to bring a better future beyond helping to keep the wheels on the train long enough?
-
Yes, normal pessimism is a very important component in, say, putting a man on the moon. Engineering needs familiarity with Murphy’s Law.
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
I would guess that both weirds have many subtypes which have very different characteristics.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
Places & spaces where I’ve witnessed (first or second hand) this alliance/confluence of all three: •
@rushkoff ‘s@teamhumanshow • Burning Man (cliché almost at this point, but I think the above three elements do mix there generatively) • some corners of Twitter -
• a lot of folks drawn to the schelling point/ strange attractor that is
@leashless • a whole slew of podcasts
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.