Theory on optimism and pessimism
Theory on optimism and pessimism
SySTeM | 9927 Reads | Theory on optimism and pessimism by system_meltdown.
The following article was written by me and has been a theory stuck in my head for a long time, I have only just tried spilling it out into words.
I know it is short as I have no idea how to make it longer without repeating what I have already written.
This is my theory on optimism and pessimism, it is quite biased towards my opinion and is based around the question 'Is the cup half empty or half full?'. This article also follows basic rules of maths.
According to people, if you answer this question with "Half full" you are optimistic, and if you answer it with "Half empty" you are pesimmistic.
I believe different. I believe if you answer with "Half full" you are a logical thinker and will understand the rest of this article. But if you answer "Half empty" you have no clue about your surroundings.
Now first off, my answer would be half full, and the explanation for this choice is this:
If you take a cup full of water and say that's one. Then, you take half out it becomes a half of one, 0.5, which is still a real number
If your answer is half empty I can show you why it would be wrong (in my eyes).
Take an empty cup which will be zero, and try and take half away, which would be half of zero, which isn't a number.
Therfore this shows the cup must be half full as half of zero is zero which we have already decleared as empty.
I shall end my article with this statement: "It's your choice what you answer the question with, but please understand my point."
ghost 18 years ago
This is one of those great little articles that really has no point to it, but is great nonetheless.
SySTeM 18 years ago
Cheers mate, I know it has no point :D just something I randomly thought of hehe
ghost 18 years ago
0.5 not being an interger can also be classed as notbeing a number, and (0/0.5=0) 0 being classed as a number.
ghost 18 years ago
System, look, it was one little criticsm :-) and "This is my theory on optimism and pessimism, it is quite biased towards my opinion and is based around the question 'Is the cup half empty or half full?'. This article also follows basic rules of maths. "
maths see ^_^ sorry dude, jsut saying :-P
ghost 18 years ago
Meh made me think. I always thought of the 'Half empty' being below the cup itself. I never even understood it either. Until you used numbers. Now, i totally understand and agree. Good article
ghost 18 years ago
I like, but really I think you could've gone more philosophical with it, which would've (suprisingly) made more sense to me. < even that made no sense… Final thought: Good, but no point was made- you could've elaborated on a more philosophical point rather than a logical one- logic takes the fun out of it.
ghost 18 years ago
hmmmmmm has the cup been filled to the top and then had half removed or has it only been filled half way ? would this not effect the answer to this question?
SySTeM 18 years ago
If you rate poor, fair enough, but at least comment and tell me why you think it's poor
ghost 18 years ago
K well, this kinda goes along with my optimism/pessimism theory. Only a little different. Actually, completely different, but the same topic. Okay, so my theory was if there's a glass of water just sitting there, it's half a glass of water. not full, not empty, just water. But if it's an empty glass, and someone fills it half-full, then it's half full. If it WAS a full glass and someone drank half, thereby emptying half of it, it's half empty. Idk if anyone can simplify this for me, cuz i'm still confused as hell. I tend to overthink things. I remember crying when i was little because i thought brown cows gave out chocolate milk and i couldn't figure out why a black&white cow's milk was white. lol.
ghost 18 years ago
Great article and I would love to see it in the forums because this is deep, and as with everything that is deep, there are many opinions on it. Also I agree with CaityT3hAw3som3, on the point of it being that if the glass was full and then half of it was emptied you would be depressed at losing this water (thats a metaphor). But if the glass was empty and you filled it halfway it would make you feel better and most likely give you a more optimistic view on life. Sorry if this confuses anyone.
ghost 18 years ago
I am not really sure where you were going with this. Maybe you could refine more. If you ever want to have a philosophical debate with me, let me know. Wheather we agree or disagree its all good.
ghost 18 years ago
When one says that the cup is half empty, they are saying "The cup is half empty out of the whole cup its self".
Example:
Somebody says that their gas tank is a little more than half empty; He is saying that the gas tank is a little more than half empty out of the whole size of the tank, obviously he is not referring to the whole amount as 0.
The glass is half empty = 1 half of 1 whole glass (1/2)
So both are 'logical' in my opinion… It's just a matter of viewpoint on how you would like to see it.
That's my rebuttal :)
P.S.: I think of the glass as half full, just giving the others a chance ;)
ghost 18 years ago
I think it depends on mood also. If you pissed off and cant be bothered its half empty. If you chuffed and whistling its half full. Also you can use each one to get more eg 'can i have another bag of crisps, mines half empty!'
Thucydides 18 years ago
what if you say the glass is half full of air? Are you an optimist or a pessimist?