As a natural pessimist, I am also a relatively content, happy-ish person who strives for a better future (which is always to maximize freedom). I find no contradiction in this. I build things knowing that the great god Entropy shall break them back down to nothing. I enjoy the process of building despite this inherent knowledge. I find so much human striving funny in the most absurd way. Unlike others, I don't believe pessimism keeps me from striving for a better future, I am just not shocked and dismayed when it fails to reach my intent.
Thanks for giving me some academic backstop to my natural impulses.
"As a reliable compass for orienting yourself in life nothing is more useful than to accustom yourself to regarding this world as a place of atonement, a sort of penal colony."
Possibly one of the most practical models of reality. This place feels more like a time served sentence than anything else. Anything worth doing must be paid for with suffering, and succumbing to pleasures and its illusions brings about an even greater sentence later on.
This resonates with me. I think this life can be either Purgatory or hell, depending on how you respond to it, and seeing it as Purgatory means that even if the world is doomed to recurring disappointments, your soul can be inproved by the struggle to create a good life in spite of that opposition. If you respond well to Life's challenges with the view that the world is Purgatory, worst case scenarios are that it's nothing and you just die, or that the cycle of samsara continues and you're born again (but not in a good way), but in any event, you have spent your days as well and as meaningfully as possible (at least per your own subjective experience of it).
I wonder how much traditional faith in providence would be considered pessimism now that it’s an accepted norm to place one’s faith in the promises of the state.
These days, a statement like this is just shooting fish in a barrel: "As I have mentioned elsewhere, adopting a pessimistic attitude toward the possibility of positive political change has made my political predictive abilities, by and large, much stronger than they were before this shift."
"living things can only survive by consuming other living things"
Now wait, this part goes too far. Fruit is made for us to eat and it doesn't harm the plant but rather helps it spread its seeds. I've also found it's not only possible but optimal or at least near optimal to live exclusively on fruit (if you can afford the sourcing costs outside the tropics). Bonobos also live largely on fruit, so the world isn't all predation. In fact predation is a relatively small part of any ecosystem, mutualism being much more common--but it makes more entertaining National Geographic viewing.
Ultimately what orientation is most adaptive probably depends on subjective personality and other factors of circumstance. Generally, though, if we want to see the world as it is, some degree of optimism is probably helpful given our inherent negativity bias. I don't view your overall strategy of being comfortable with and prepared for bad outcomes as pessimistic, especially in light of the fact that you hope to be surprised by things going better than expected, but perhaps this isn't common usage of the word. I'll probably write something up on this, lots of interesting things to consider here.
The nature of the future is we ever sharpen our mastery of dead objects, materials, chemicals, and ever dull our innate mastery of living things, our minds, economies, common law, etc. Or maybe it isn't. Nothing is certain and at least we can say these things go in waves.
The idea that animals live in timelessness and are without consciousness is an assumption based on no evidence whatsoever. That’s just one of the many evidence-free foundational assumptions in this essay.
I find “philosophers” tiresome. They’re mostly making castles in the air out of pet peeves, their childhoods, silly beliefs of their Zeitgeist and the ambition to one up other “philosophers,” gain circles of acolytes and gain renown past the grave.
We need multidisciplinary thinkers to attack the age old questions from the data gained through the progress you defame. The Human Project does have a teleology. We build over generations and notwithstanding the brilliant pessimism of Ecclesiastes, the future CAN be better, even something resembling a utopia. Or, we can destroy ourselves which we seem to be doing right now with gusto.
Insofar as your “pessimism” fully embraces the reality principle, I’m all for it. But without the hope for A Better Possible Future, fuck it, might as well join the marauders and go out blood and joy drenched with the mob.
The idea that life is suffering, pain and toil. That there is nothing new under the sun, that as history marches on the condition of suffering gets worse or stays the same, seems to be very Old Testament. Admittedly I think this is the root of all ancient religions, but as a Christian raised in the Christian tradition, it’s more relatable in this context.
The moral tradition of the Old Testament could be summed up by practicing gratitude no matter the circumstances. Since the fall, baseline human experience is suffering but in that suffering we find crumbs of mana.
That’s how I’ve interpreted it and I may have missed the point of this essay entirely, I’m not sure.
As a natural pessimist, I am also a relatively content, happy-ish person who strives for a better future (which is always to maximize freedom). I find no contradiction in this. I build things knowing that the great god Entropy shall break them back down to nothing. I enjoy the process of building despite this inherent knowledge. I find so much human striving funny in the most absurd way. Unlike others, I don't believe pessimism keeps me from striving for a better future, I am just not shocked and dismayed when it fails to reach my intent.
Thanks for giving me some academic backstop to my natural impulses.
"As a reliable compass for orienting yourself in life nothing is more useful than to accustom yourself to regarding this world as a place of atonement, a sort of penal colony."
Possibly one of the most practical models of reality. This place feels more like a time served sentence than anything else. Anything worth doing must be paid for with suffering, and succumbing to pleasures and its illusions brings about an even greater sentence later on.
This resonates with me. I think this life can be either Purgatory or hell, depending on how you respond to it, and seeing it as Purgatory means that even if the world is doomed to recurring disappointments, your soul can be inproved by the struggle to create a good life in spite of that opposition. If you respond well to Life's challenges with the view that the world is Purgatory, worst case scenarios are that it's nothing and you just die, or that the cycle of samsara continues and you're born again (but not in a good way), but in any event, you have spent your days as well and as meaningfully as possible (at least per your own subjective experience of it).
I wonder how much traditional faith in providence would be considered pessimism now that it’s an accepted norm to place one’s faith in the promises of the state.
These days, a statement like this is just shooting fish in a barrel: "As I have mentioned elsewhere, adopting a pessimistic attitude toward the possibility of positive political change has made my political predictive abilities, by and large, much stronger than they were before this shift."
"living things can only survive by consuming other living things"
Now wait, this part goes too far. Fruit is made for us to eat and it doesn't harm the plant but rather helps it spread its seeds. I've also found it's not only possible but optimal or at least near optimal to live exclusively on fruit (if you can afford the sourcing costs outside the tropics). Bonobos also live largely on fruit, so the world isn't all predation. In fact predation is a relatively small part of any ecosystem, mutualism being much more common--but it makes more entertaining National Geographic viewing.
Thank you for this wonderful, timeless piece. You may wish to add Jack Kornfield’s Living Buddhist Masters to your Buddhist reading list. Be well.
Thank you, Brett. Jack Kornfield's book looks interesting - I will check it out.
Ultimately what orientation is most adaptive probably depends on subjective personality and other factors of circumstance. Generally, though, if we want to see the world as it is, some degree of optimism is probably helpful given our inherent negativity bias. I don't view your overall strategy of being comfortable with and prepared for bad outcomes as pessimistic, especially in light of the fact that you hope to be surprised by things going better than expected, but perhaps this isn't common usage of the word. I'll probably write something up on this, lots of interesting things to consider here.
The nature of the future is we ever sharpen our mastery of dead objects, materials, chemicals, and ever dull our innate mastery of living things, our minds, economies, common law, etc. Or maybe it isn't. Nothing is certain and at least we can say these things go in waves.
The idea that animals live in timelessness and are without consciousness is an assumption based on no evidence whatsoever. That’s just one of the many evidence-free foundational assumptions in this essay.
I find “philosophers” tiresome. They’re mostly making castles in the air out of pet peeves, their childhoods, silly beliefs of their Zeitgeist and the ambition to one up other “philosophers,” gain circles of acolytes and gain renown past the grave.
We need multidisciplinary thinkers to attack the age old questions from the data gained through the progress you defame. The Human Project does have a teleology. We build over generations and notwithstanding the brilliant pessimism of Ecclesiastes, the future CAN be better, even something resembling a utopia. Or, we can destroy ourselves which we seem to be doing right now with gusto.
Insofar as your “pessimism” fully embraces the reality principle, I’m all for it. But without the hope for A Better Possible Future, fuck it, might as well join the marauders and go out blood and joy drenched with the mob.
You should have a look at my essay An Indictment of Life.
The idea that life is suffering, pain and toil. That there is nothing new under the sun, that as history marches on the condition of suffering gets worse or stays the same, seems to be very Old Testament. Admittedly I think this is the root of all ancient religions, but as a Christian raised in the Christian tradition, it’s more relatable in this context.
The moral tradition of the Old Testament could be summed up by practicing gratitude no matter the circumstances. Since the fall, baseline human experience is suffering but in that suffering we find crumbs of mana.
That’s how I’ve interpreted it and I may have missed the point of this essay entirely, I’m not sure.