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> Optimism— Why not?
Optimism — Why not? — It depends!
Depends upon where the waterline is relative to your nose! Personally, I’d suggest that there’s a time for optimism (i.e., bet on a positive outcome) and a time for pessimism (i.e., bet on a negative outcome). I think everyone does that almost instinctively. My personal rule is: “Does the Titanic sink if I hit the iceberg?” Optimism is appropriate when an adverse result won’t have catastrophic consequences? Pessimism is almost obligatory when the result would be catastrophic, irreversible, or uncorrectable.
imho
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