Always look on the bright side? How ‘optimism’ came to mean foolishness

-

Scientists claimed this week that being optimistic helps us live longer – but it isn’t always a positive feeling

This week scientists claimed that being optimistic could help you live longer, though some may feel the gloom descend on being ordered to be cheerful. But optimism originally meant something much stronger than mere confidence in the future.

The word was coined in French – optimisme – by the mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who argued in 1710 that God had optimised the universe to allow the largest possible amount of good for the least cost of evil. This was, therefore, the best of all possible worlds. Someone who believes that things are optimal (Latin optimus, best) is an optimist.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2L5jlPj

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘Help us or LSO fails’: Sir Simon Rattle’s plea over Covid and Brexit

-
As the orchestra prepares to welcome back live audiences, the conductor urges ministers to act on new touring rules in Europe Sir Simon Rattle and his top team at the London Symphony Orchestra have appealed for government support to help them survive the difficulties created by Brexit and Covid. The orchestra depended on international touring – much of it in Europe – for 40% of its revenue before the coronavirus, with tours cancelled by the pandemic . Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3tQnObB
Read more

The Glasgow Effect: examining the city's life expectancy gap – a photo essay

-
Documentary photographer Kirsty Mackay examines the causes of the ‘Glasgow Effect’ in a highly personal project. She looks at Glasgow’s excess mortality in comparison to the UK average and shifts the focus from the individual to government policy. The Fish That Never Swam will be published as a book later this year. In Glasgow people’s lives are cut short: male life expectancy in Possil is 66, in Penilee three young people took their own lives within the space of one week this June, suicide in Glasgow is 30% higher than in English cities, male life expectancy is seven years short of the UK average and women’s is four years less. This is not isolated to areas of deprivation – Glaswegians across all social classes experience a 15% reduction in life expectancy. We have known about the “Glasgow Effect” for more than a decade. However, the root causes for Glasgow’s excess mortality are not in the public domain. The explanation lies in government policy – not with the individual and t...
Read more

Mark Kermode’s best films of 2019

-
From the raw For Sama to the rip-roaring Rocketman, top-notch films from around the world graced the big screen. The Observer’s film critic introduces his 10 best movies of 2019 2019 was the year that Netflix movies came of age, and ageing actors were made young again. At the 91st Oscars in February, the bland Green Book beat the superior BlackKklansman to the best picture award, although Spike Lee won his first competitive Oscar in the adapted screenplay category. Rami Malik scooped best actor for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody , but best actress Olivia Colman ( The Favourite ) stole the evening with one of the funniest and most self-deprecating acceptance speeches ever (complete with raspberry-blowing). More significantly, Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma won for cinematography, direction and best foreign language film, despite naysayers’ complaints that Netflix-backed movies were essentially made-for-TV films. That attitude is now history: in the forthcoming awa...
Read more