The Skeptical Optimist

November 2001

The Skeptical Optimist

(Balancing Harsh Realities With Hope)

Sections within this article:

5. Summary & Conclusions

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It has been said that an Optimist is one who proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, while the Pessimist fears that this is true. So what, then, is a “Skeptical Optimist”: An oxymoron or another of life’s enigmas?

The term is meant describe the proper mental attitude which should be adopted by everyone who wants to be considered a thinking and caring being. However, for most people “Skeptical Optimism” is not a common way of thinking. We prefer the convenient assumption that the world is black and white, on or off, up or down. As usual, reality resists such over-simplification, so the cup of our existence can not be properly described as either half-full or half-empty. If we are to live consciously (and conscientiously) we must learn to deal with the complexity of reality. That is, we must recognize that there are good reasons to be suspicious, and also good reasons to have hope. Embracing the dynamic balance between these contrasting attitudes is the secret to being neither the fool nor the curmudgeon.

Wanted: Independent Thinkers

An old joke has a senior executive telling a subordinate, “When I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you.” Sadly, many people have no right to laugh at this punchline: They live it. From childhood through old age we are told what to believe — by parents, school masters, clergy, peers, politicians, and media pundits. More importantly, we are often told NOT to question or think critically, but to instead simply rely on faith and the authority of the “expert” and thus simply believe whatever we are told. This is the central requirement of a strong system of indoctrination, and such systems are deeply ingrained in most every culture on the planet. In fact, indoctrinating systems are so ubiquitous (and often subtle) that they have become nearly transparent in modern society. Most people will argue strongly that they themselves have never been subjected to indoctrination, and certainly have not been swayed by indoctrination. The truth is that all of us have been bombarded with indoctrination for the bulk of our lives. Becoming aware of this fact, admitting it openly, recognizing the forms and motives of the indoctrination impinging upon us, and introspectively analyzing the effects such indoctrination has had upon us, are the first and most significant steps toward mental freedom. Do you believe your thinking is (or has been) influenced by indoctrination? Not at all? A little? A lot?

Interestingly, modern science relies upon a disciplined method of rational thought which requires skepticism. No one in science is taken seriously if they attempt to publish a finding based on “faith”, or even upon the strong assertions of credible “experts” in the field. At best, such musings are clearly labeled as “speculation”, and serious scientists generally avoid most forms of public speculation. Further, all published findings are subject to hyper-critical peer review and must be independently replicable and verifiable before they are taken at face value. So why, when the so-called “scientific method” has proven itself over and over since at least the 17th century, do our political and social leaders fail to adopt, encourage or even permit the same disciplined form of thinking in other arenas? It is quite revealing that, outside the laboratory, even scientists often fail to apply the same standards of critical thinking to personal, social, economic and political matters. Why?

The answer lies in two parts of human nature. First, is a sort of laziness: It is simply easier to swallow new information uncritically than to put forth the effort needed to independently verify or repudiate it. This is especially true if the new information comes from a source we consider reputable AND does not conflict (too much) with other beliefs we hold dearly. Similarly, the converse is also typical: It is easier to reject new information out-of-hand if it comes from a source we find to be disreputable OR if it conflicts with dearly held beliefs. Being lazy (not to mention ‘time challenged’), we generally prefer these effortless heuristics (rules of thumb) to the work required by a rigorous investigation. However, this behavior inevitably leads to a problem the computer scientists call G.I.G.O. (“Garbage in. Garbage out.”), which infers that you can not arrive at the correct calculations if your underlying data and assumptions are incorrect from the beginning.

The second reason, while still inherent in human nature, is more sinister: selfishness or greed. Each person who believes they can reap benefit from your choices has a vested interest in the manipulation of the choices you make (whether or not they are conscious of their own chosen forms of manipulation). Think salespersons, politicians and employers, but also parents, teachers, union organizers, clergy, and even peers. Understand the term “benefit” to range from actual monetary profit to righteous salvation to the natural tendency to want others to think and feel as we do. All around us, throughout our lives, there are people who strongly prefer that we do NOT think critically, do NOT ask tough questions, do NOT demand accountability, do NOT test assumptions, in essence they prefer that we do NOT think independently. They prefer that we simply take their word on trust and faith. They infer (or even demand) that if we attempt to objectively test the beliefs they are trying to impose on us then we are insulting them, we are demonstrating that we do not “trust” them, or we are acting insubordinate to their “unquestionable” authority. Often there are explicit penalties for our failure to simply accept and conform: Loss of friendship, humiliation in front of our peers or community, loss of social status, loss of employment or advancement opportunity, loss of “eternal salvation”, even loss of personal freedom. So, from the earliest age, we are mostly taught to accept the dictates of so-called authority without question.

But what kind of conscious life are we really living under such circumstances? A poor one at best, generally a confused and semi-conscious life. We are confused because we are no longer well-practiced at the discipline of rational thought: “Trusted” corporate newsperson tells us the “truth” in our world, “trusted” politicians tell us the “truth” in our nation-state, “trusted” cops, clergy and neighbors tell us the “truth” in our communities, and we overtly PAY an array of “experts” to tell us the “truth” about everything from home loans, to automobile performance, to investment strategies and garden tips. Indeed, advertisers (not generally at the top of the trust totem pole) also tell us how to live, love and even how to value ourselves. We are confused because over time we have swallowed many conflicting ideas (imposed by different but still powerful “authorities”) and thus have a mind weighted by cognitive dissonance. It is as if we no longer have the ability to think independently. It is therefore easy for manipulators to further obfuscate the truth and further confuse us by making simple pronouncements of complex issues based upon their positions of “trust and authority”.

In fact, how little modern people actually “know” about the world around them would be scandalous (if so many were not unconscious about this very fact). For instance, a study some years back revealed that, when asked “where does your food come from?”, a significant number of people believe their food comes from a “supermarket” rather than a “ranch or farm”. Most of us learn our history from pre-packaged books not historical documents, our science from texts rather than first hand experiments or even examination of the published papers, and our “reality” from television and radio rather than our own gardens, our own crafts, our own musical expression, our own political activism, our own hands-on experiences. Being so detached from our own mind, being so removed from our own grounding, moving to and fro based on the directional flow of mass media and the fashions of untested dogma, these are all descriptions of a semi-conscious existence. Is this living? No, it is existing. Just existing.

Real life, that is “conscious human living”, requires independent thought: Making up our own minds AFTER committed effort to understand how we know what we claim to know. The ancient greeks called it Episteme (the root of our modern word “epistemology”), the study of how we know what we know. We might argue that in the best form of conscious life, we experience Parsimonious Episteme based upon independent thought.

Biology: Humanity’s Dark Side

Assuming that we begin from a base of open-minded, independent thought, we will soon conclude that the skeptic has good reasons for his skepticism. First, in addition to the aforementioned elements of human nature (greed, selfishness, and laziness) there are also the well-known capacities for denial, self-delusion and rationalization within us. Then there is basic biology both within us and around us. The world is truly an eat and be eaten place. At the most primal level, species, populations, tribes and individuals are all looking for an edge in competiton for space, food, shelter and, ultimately, reproduction. The basic circumstance of life on our planet is limited resources with potentially unlimited competition for those resources. Further, our life and time are limited, and consciousness is fleeting and fragile. Truly, our biology is humanity’s dark side: A raw, amoral, relentless drive for survival and reproduction.

Within this reality, why should we be (logically) anything BUT suspicious, skeptical, questioning, demanding of proof? The skeptic understands that others have motives for telling us what to think, and that those motives are generally in favor of the person attempting to assert authority, NOT necessarily in our own best interest. The skeptic, understanding human nature, realizes that a friend or colleague might be careless about the source of his/her own facts, and so concludes that independent analysis is a general requirement, not necessarily an insult against interpersonal “trust”. In short, the skeptic understands that no one will safeguard his mind and interests better than he himself.

The independent thinking skeptic will, of course, also be mindful that time is limited, that the modern world requires the intellectual leverage of building upon those who have come before us, and that therefore it is impractical to study every fact firsthand. However, rather than capitulating to mindlessness, the proper skeptic uses two distinct tactics: (1) He devises an array of intellectual tools and systems to prioritize information for critical analysis based on the importance that informational will have in his life; and (2) he keeps his mind open and objective by acknowledging (at all times) that his beliefs may be wrong (and are therefore always subject to critical inspection by himself or others). This may seem impossibly complex at first glance, but it is actually basic common sense. If someone tells you that your favorite tutti frutti ice cream can be found across the street in a shop, it is quite a small risk to simply take that in as a “fact” at face value, so no effort is spent verifying the information. If, on the other hand, a dear friend says that the shop own sometimes casts spells on children via that ice cream, then you should be rightfully skeptical, finding a way to verify or repudiate this “fact” before committing to it (i.e., by repeating the rumor to others, or thinking poorly or the shop owner, etc.). By having the humility to wonder whether his belief is correctly held in the first place, your dear friend would have either not spread this information, or would have at least qualified it by stating the actual evidence for the accusation. This same system would prevent the spread of baseless rumors, “wives tales”, urban legends, myths, and many larger disasters of ignorance such as bigotry, blind nationalism and religious fanaticism.

Obviously, there is a reason for the long survival of the term “healthy skepticism”.

The Mind: Conscience Anyone?

There are also a number of excellent reasons for optimist’s heart to be filled with hope: Perhaps the best (if most facile) among these is that the realities of life feel lighter, happier, and more endurable when our future includes hope. If we want to live happily, then we might as well approach each day with positive aspirations and hope for the best.

But the are other reasons for optimistic hope beyond what some might see as New Age rhetoric. The first is comparative across the history of the planet and mankind: In general, things are getting better, albeit glacially slow in terms of any one human lifetime. We still have war and murder, but now we also have notions of civility, justice, and democracy (as immature and imperfect as they are still). We have discovered so much about our physical realities and the laws that govern our universe that: (1) we routinely save lives from disease, disaster and natural enemies; (2) we travel fantastic distances and see more of the planet than ever before; (3) we experience more disparate forms of data in one lifetime than our ancestors could conceive; (4) we have the potential to know and understand more than ever before in history; (5) we educate vast numbers of people; (6) we have increased health and living standards nearly worldwide; (7) we are on a path away from raw biology through civilization and ultimately toward transcendent spirituality. Racial equality, women’s rights, and protection of children from sexual, physical and labor abuses are all examples of where we have come from and where we are heading. Humanity IS getting better, although the pace could be more rapid, and most of us would gladly avoid the savage U-turns and frustrating detours.

Another reason for hope is the fact that most conscious beings possess a social conscience: That is, most people try (at some level or other) to be polite, fair, considerate, trustworthy, etc., even though these actions may be opposed by their instinctive biology. For some, these are truly acts of altruism, for others it is the logical conclusion that such behavior is the only way to enjoy the security and comfort of a civilized existence, for still others such behaviors develop through years of social conditioning (positive and negative feedback) and are now largely unconscious. Regardless of how such social conscience has formed, that fact is that it has formed. Conversely, the percentage of “irredeemable” people (pathological liars and cheats, self-absorbed and self-aggrandizing monsters) remains quite small (perhaps a few percent of the populace). For the optimist this is a good sign.

Perhaps the best reason for hope stems from the demonstrable power of the human mind; the power to study, deduce, develop insights and therefore solve problems. For example, humanity has proven itself to be very clever at developing technologies to lessen physical workloads, to fortify shelter, to understand and manipulate even that which can not normally be seen, touched, or even comprehended. Intriquingly, when faced with a common threat, humanity has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to quickly develop its solutions, thus the old adage, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” If only we can find a way to get most people’s motivations aligned toward solutions to modern problems, rather than at all manner of odds across and against these solutions, then we would quickly experience the sort of cultural revolution which could carry us beyond war and hypocrisy. For the optimist, this is not speculation but simply extrapolation from our own intellectual past.

In the final analysis the optimist concludes that there are really no rational alternatives: Only a life filled with hope is worth living.

Developing Balance

Pragmatically, we must understand the specific steps necessary to balance healthy skepticism with hopeful optimism. So, how can we change the the notion of a “Skeptical Optimist” from an oxymoron to a reality in our own lives?

Focus on these five practical areas:

1. QUESTION AUTHORITY. Develop the courage (and tact) to ask tough questions, refusing to accept trite responses, admonitions toward blind trust or faith, or to submission to authority.
Remember, the good citizen, like the good parent and good student, must be willing to ask tough questions and give appropriate feedback.

2. THINK INDEPENDENTLY. Develop your own views and opinions on important matters, and know how and why you have come to believe as you do. Do not be afraid to change your opinion if new, verifiable facts demonstrate that you were wrong… it is better to have been wrong, than to continue to be wrong. As you do this, hypocrisy will become apparent all around you, but your own hypocritical behaviors should begin to melt away.

3. REMEMBER HISTORY. The lessons of history demonstrate that we must always be on guard against a small percentage of evil people among us, that there are always manipulators and propagandists around us, that there are those who would do anything to retain their wealth and power, and that our inherent nature has a dark side (including laziness, greed, selfishness, denial and delusion). On the flip side, history has also shown us that humanity is grwoing more conscious (slowly), the majority of people have developed a social conscience, and that the human mind has the potential to most solve complex problems.

4. DARE TO DREAM. Do not let the failures of yesterday, or the apparently insumountable challenges of today, cause you to give up the hope upon which our dreams are built. Begin with your dreams, then imagine ways they might become true. There is no shame in having an unrealized dream, only in having no dream at all. Do not submit to the apathy of the facile belief that, “this is how is has always been, nothing can be done about it.” Focus on successes (yours and others) to continuously re-prove to yourself that as long as you have hope then your dream are possible. As baseball great Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over till its over.”

5. PUT ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER. As the saying goes, “most of life is simply showing up and not giving up”. So each day just put one foot in front of the other and keep on walking. Make it a daily goal to ask, “How do I know that is true?”, and “Why do I think that way?” Ask yourself, “What motivation or benefit does this person have for pushing their opinion?” Make it a point of looking at each new issue with both healthy skepticism and hopeful optimism. Be humble enough to admit that your beliefs might be incorrect. Each day that you think actively about how you are thinking will be another step toward developing a natural balance between Skepticism and Optimism.

As even the ancients realized, balance is key.

Summary & Conclusions:

? p A t T e R n R e C o G n I t I o N ?

Americans, in particular, should be among the most hopeful and thankful people in the world. Not only is our general prosperity and standard of living among the highest in the world, but we have the single great advantage of any people anywhere: We literally DO have the power to change the world! (Toward the “good” or “bad”, one must add, depending on the choices we make.)

If anger is an energy, hope is also an inspiration. We, the peoples of the world (and especially the people of America) must re-commit ourselves to seeking the truth, not just swallowing opinions. We must refuse to enjoy mindless indoctrination and the laziness of letting others do our thinking for us. We must invest enough energy to ensure that we are not duped into complicity with actions which betray our own sense of value and morality. We must dare to dream that humanity can grow beyond its barbarism, beyond its raw biology and even its immature attempts at civilation. In short, we must be Skeptical Optimists. But don’t just take our word for it… think about it and decide for yourself.

Whether you are an Optimist, a Skeptic, or a Skeptical Optimist, exercise your liberty
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Use our “SPEAK!” function to alert your peers as well as key representatives. Tell every one of your legislators to “Get it done or GET OUT! And we mean NOW!”

Thank you for your attention, interest and concern.