Can we really trace our appreciation for joyful music to the evolutionary advantage that optimism provided primitive man in his efforts to pick up primitive women?
The narrowest definition of optimism provides a list of sunny favourites: Lovely Day, Beautiful Day, Three Little Birds, Don't Worry Be Happy, What a Wonderful World etc.
This was a rhetorical achievement, almost a musical one, in which Churchill's innate optimism provided a kind of elevating promise even as he was trying to map out the scope of cataclysm.
Popper eventually realized that this naive falsificationism is compatible with optimism provided we have an acceptable notion of verisimilitude (or truthlikeness).
The previous research findings demonstrate that the integration of all four dimensions of psychological capital (i.e. self-efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism) provides a better prediction for the rational results (Luthans et al., 2007).
Its central theme is social exclusion, poverty and homelessness, in which snatches of Clark's "Downtown"—an awestruck ode to hedonistic city nightlife are juxtaposed with raps by Drummond, wailing sirens and original choral gospel vocals full of Christmas optimism, provided by the London Community Gospel Choir.
It relies heavily on a national campaign of TV appearances and ads, where the first-term senator distills complex policy positions into smart sound bites and his youthful optimism provides an easy contrast to other candidates – and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
A reasonable drug development pipeline has arisen and there are grounds for cautious optimism provided that attrition of the current candidates can be managed, new leads are optimized and funding is sustained to ensure that their development is completed.
But going forward, I can't help feeling somewhat ambivalent about the nation's state of mind — hopeful, because the relentless optimism does provide a font of confidence and ambition that can drive progress, but at the same time skeptical and even concerned, because it also raises expectations to unrealistic levels.
An unwinding of this optimism could provide additional selling pressure for the XAL.
