Comments on: ED vs. COGNITIVE BIASES, PART 5: OPTIMISM BIAS

By: Sour Kraut

Sour Kraut — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:19:43 +0000

So your pissing your income away? Good for you!

Heh. So what's it like running the Bellagio?

By: Pan Sapiens

Pan Sapiens — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:06:31 +0000

So your pissing your income away? Good for you!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:02:09 +0000

I never said I was a millionaire. Being a millionaire requires wealth, not income.

By: Prudence

Prudence — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:20:28 +0000

Frankly, I'm going hell-for-leather on the optimism front– I've just booked my trip from London back to DC on British Airways…

By: Desargues

Desargues — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:16:01 +0000

Optimism is an inherently good thing, right? Have you tried that on a German?

By: Desargues

Desargues — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:56:18 +0000

I wonder if the adherence to irrationally optimistic worldviews like Christianity and the persistence in kind of cognitive bias aren't a bit related. Comparative studies in self-professed optimism across Western nations may shed some light on this. A certain kind of American prides himself on the "sunny" optimism he projects (and excoriates as America-haters fellow citizens who refuse to bask in the same light) -- an attitude that's quite baffling to many Western Europeans. Is it entirely coincidental that America is also the last Western nation to take biblical superstitions so seriously? E.g., the injunction to "take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on."

By: Prudence

Prudence — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:21:07 +0000

Ha! Thank you, Pan Sapiens for that titter.

Can't say with certainty I'm in the top 2% of any category (blethering?) but I have a job which exposes me to different parts of the developing world on a very regular basis– and I always come away with a deep sense of humility and gratitude– which doesn't last nearly long enough, thanks to my own character failings. Most of these people have next to nothing, but are more than willing to share it with a stranger.

Hemingway, that self-obsessed old sot, was wrong about a lot of stuff, but I agree wholeheartedly that "the world is a fine place, and worth fighting for".

By: Pan Sapiens

Pan Sapiens — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:46:51 +0000

"…but being in the top 2% of IQ, income, etc…."

I really am amazed at how many genius millionaires I meet on the Internet. What are the odds? And you'd never even know it from just reading their comments. Good thing they identify themselves.

Oh! Oh! Wait. Sarcasm! I get it now! Ah-ha-ha.

By: JohnR

JohnR — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:45:39 +0000

shorter version: PT Barnum was right.