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Tom Clement wrote: I agree that you assume the worst, but it saddens you, because you think you deserve better
The world is as it is. And no, what we have is the outcome of the world that was, plus all our actions.
..and no, I'm not a "real" pessimist; a convinced believer wouldn't have the will to live for long.
It is however, a strong assessment-tool 
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
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Tom Clement wrote: and still, people whine and whine and whine
We are a discontent species. It's built in. It's why we're not in a cave, hiding from the animals outside. Please don't act like a politician who thinks that we're in a merry, happy world where miracles will save us. Act logical like a developer.
Pessimism, like optimism and realism, are like glasses through which we look at the world. Each glass is useful and has it's own merits, and you can switch between 'em. If the pessimist in you warns about the lion, the optimist can keep believing in a long life.
Best wishes for the coming year and thanks for the video - couldn't suppress a smile there
"Life is Pain, Princess; everyone telling you otherwise is selling something"
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Logical like a developer. Yep, hope to do that. But you may forget that the world is not entirely lived from the outside looking in. We are human beings and our subjective reality is not the same an an objective reality. For example, if you fall in love, if you describe it objectively, you'll try to talk about hormones and instinct and stuff like that. I don't know about you, but to me, that seems to be missing the point.
So one subjective choice you available to you is to appreciate how awesome everything is, or, of course, you could spend your emotional energy complaining. Your choice, but the wise one may be to choose to be happy rather than miserable, appreciative rather than bitter, and loving rather than hateful.
I think it's a truly amazing thing that we have the power to choose who we want to be, and how we want to look at the world. And contrary to the lion metaphor you present above, I suspect that people who love life are more interested in taking the steps that preserve it. 
And thanks for the wishes for the new year.... warm wishes your way too Eddy... It's been fun bantering with you.
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Thanks, and indeed, it was fun
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I loved it... and then I kind of figured that he was whining about people whining...
Well at least the message was positive; a lot of good people have made incredible stuff, I can only hope to be part of something that positive.
If you want to get depressed think of what you are going to do when every thing has been invented 
Cheers, AT
Cogito ergo sum
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I love the observation about whining about whining! 
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Okay my home language isn't English so I don't know if that or influences got me into this mind set, but I never view it as half full or half empty. Its just half.
For me it means the following:
Half full: person was busy filling the cup and stopped halfway.
Half empty: person started drinking and stopped halfway.
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Harry HJ Neethling wrote: Half full: person was busy filling the cup and stopped halfway.
Half empty: person started drinking and stopped halfway.
Aight, now you come across an orphaned glass. You can see that it's filled for 50%.
What would you call it then?
"neither beer nor coffee"
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
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You've got it all wrong, although that implies things can't get worst, so you might as well cheer up.
Here's the scoop:
The glass is only half full.
Or, if you're feeling contrary:
The glass is only half empty.
No reason to take sides on this issue. No cause for a commitment. Chill.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Come to think of it, isn't it both? Say, half full and half empty?
Bastard Programmer from Hell
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Yea, we know that . The question is what comes to mind. And in my eyes, it depends on what you expected. If you expected it to be full, then it has been emptied. If you expected it to be empty, then it is half full.
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Tom Clement wrote: If you expected it to be empty, then it is half full.
So, in your wording, someone who says that it is half full, is a pessimist? (By expecting it to be empty?)
Bastard Programmer from Hell
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No, that's the point. People who start out expecting nothing, appreciate everything. The irony is that those bitter, pessimistic folks are bitter because their expectations have been repeatedly dashed. The optimistic cure, don't expect the world to be perfect and give you things, and when something good does come your way, be happy and delighted with it. Then, your experience of the world is that it's always giving you more than you expect. Hence, an optimist.
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My apologies beforehand; I'm not a very social person with some simple and extreme views.
Tom Clement wrote: No, that's the point.
Would be a logical deduction from his reasoning - regardless whether the shrink that came up with the test likes the answer or not. Let me rephrase that; psychology is not a science.
Tom Clement wrote: People who start out expecting nothing, appreciate everything.
I heard that line before, and I've been making it ridiculous for the past twenty years. If you expect to sleep after you go to bed, your assumption is merely confirmed. How does it help going to bed and expecting nothing?
Tom Clement wrote: The irony is that those bitter, pessimistic folks are bitter because their expectations have been repeatedly dashed.
Pessimistic people aren't bitter by default. As a pessimistic cynic, I keep seeing my expectations confirmed, and it doesn't make me bitter - I already know that taxes will rise next year, I expect them to, and I still think that taxes are the best invention since sliced sandwiches.
Tom Clement wrote: The optimistic cure, don't expect the world to be perfect and give you things
How did you come to the idea that a non-optimist expects things from the universe? Get of that jump-to-conclusions mat!
FWIW; the world is perfect! There is no single place where the laws of nature "make a mistake", there's no place in the world where gravity is upside-down and there are no sand-grains in the desert that are made of ice.
However we view the world is up to us, and a fire can be both a good and a bad thing. With the key difference that many lazy people rather take an optimistic approach 
Tom Clement wrote: Hence, an optimist.
"Hope and prayer" (optimism) are not always a good strategy.
Look at an Apple objectively.
Look at it as an optimist.
Look at it as a pessimist.
..look at it as a thief.
..as an invester.
..an art-collector.
..a parent.
..a Objective C coder.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
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One of the first things I learned at college was that nothing is as simple as mathematics and code. You can look at the same problem and come up with many different ways of seeing it. (The trick to amazingly good communication is to first understand the other person's mental model, then use that to convey what you think.)
Here, we're bantering around the definition of a couple of words. You can argue that the definition is one thing or the other, and really, it will be hard to say that anyone won the argument. On the other hand, the information that I'm trying to convey by my argument is not *really* what the definition of "optimist" or "pessimist" is. It probably boils down to a discussion of what can make us happy in our lives.
If we expect nothing, and appreciate everything (ok, that's probably a bit overboard), then every breath of air is a gift, every moment of life is precious, every spoonful of ice cream is wonderful. I do understand that in some ways of defining it, "Expect Nothing" = Pessimist, and "Expect Everything" = Optimist. Again, the irony. We also think of Optimists as been cheerful and happy, and Pessimists as being glum and morose. So we get to the crux of the issue. I would suggest that those who people typically perceive as Optimistic are actually people who expect little, and revel in the joy of getting more than they expect, while those who are typically perceived as pessimists are actually people who come into any situation expecting everything, and who are inevitably disappointed.
Ultimately, I would suggest that optimism and pessimism are probably best described as emotional states rather than as people who state (respectively) expectations of more or less. Hence the suggestion that those who are happy to see a glass half full probably didn't expect it at all, while those who see the glass half empty are bummed because they went into it with the expectation that if the world were "right", the damn glass would have come to them already full.
Anyway, it's a joy to chat with you about this
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Thanks for the elaboration and your time
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As an engineer I can state confidently: the glass is neither half full nor half empty, it is twice as big as it needs to be.
------------------<;,><-------------------
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I am surprised that results are not Gauss Bell like. We are statistically odd... 
36. When you surround an army, leave an outlet free.
...
Do not press a desperate foe too hard.
SUN-TZU - Art of War
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Don't worry, after Professor Maunder normalizes the voting results only a couple of CP'ians will be getting A's and the remaining results will create a nice bell curve.
All of my software is powered by a single Watt.
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??? It's a skewed distribution. Where's the surprise in that? On what premise should it be a normal distribution?
Peter Wasser
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I care not for calendars. One day at a time.
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That's soooo yesterday!
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I dont feel optimistic since the world war 3 is coming this year.
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