My first short, angry, rant.

[Riobux]

The Realist is a result of extreme cynicism and a loss of faith in the Human race, which the last time I checked was 97% of the Escapist.

I don't consider myself a realist, but a full blown pessimist to the letter. I'm the guy you can usually expect to say "well this is good, BUT this has so many problems like...". Even when excited and having fun, I'm beginning to poke holes in whatever I'm having fun with; only framing from doing so if I just want to enjoy myself already.

 

[Dodgy]

You know, finding ways to live on other planets sounds interesting. I don't think it would be a waste of money. Only because we can start anew with what we already have now.

You do know that's totally unrealistic right?

 

[Pimppeter2]

Because space travel will clearly save us all correct?

You may find cynics annnoying, but what exactly is wrong with realists? That they like to deal with their problems?

All realist are not cynics, and cynics are not realists. The words are not interchangeable.

They don't deal with their problems, they ***** about their problems. There's a difference. I hate the term realist in general because it assumes that these people know a greater truth when all they know is their own experience. It's an insane man calling himself a realist, all he has is his delusions and those are as real to him as anything in your life is to you. A person who calls himself a realist is just arrogant in my books..

Let's take a thought experiment.

Do you believe in Democracy? Do you find it the best choice to run a country out of all choices?

While I will entertain the experiment out of shear boredom, I must warn you that any questions after this one will be answered tomorrow, and I feel the need to inform you that this in no way will be able to change the fact that the view of reality is subject to the individual who feels it.

I believe in democracy, but a country cannot be run "out of all choices" simply because it'd be nothing but bickering. The way it currently works is perfectly fine though.

Fine then, I'm planning on going to sleep anyways. Continue this whenever you can.

You would then say that Democracy is the best form of government, better than any others that you know of?

To be fair, I don't know that many. But yes.

How are you any different from what you hate about realists?

From your own experience, you deduce that Democracy is the grandest form of government. (greater truth). You pointed out a fault in democracy but don't deal with the problem.

You are assuming a greater truth, from your own life experience, and cannot solve this problem (literally impossible) so you merely discuss it.

I don't see what you find wrong about realists.

Do you dislike their attitude? Because that's much different from disliking their belief.

 

[Lust]

You know, finding ways to live on other planets sounds interesting. I don't think it would be a waste of money. Only because we can start anew with what we already have now.

You do know that's totally unrealistic right?

I know it may not be the best thought out plan, but, I'd like to keep that option open. Maybe one day, thousands of years from now, something might pan out. Most likely for our benefit. Though, I would not be in favor of just dropping everything to go sightseeing. I felt it was something nice to think about. As it was already said, there's still a lot of problems going on in this world of ours. Besides, I don't see myself pioneering a universal expedition anytime soon.

 

[terrible cheeb]

i dont blame realists have lossing faith in humanity, people are dicks.

 

[Rafe]

I'm with you there man, I still have hope and enjoy life to the full.

You must be right with that 97% with the sheer amount of people on here who respond to bad news with the miserable snarky comment "There's another reason for why I've lost faith in the human race".

Jesus Christ cheer up everyone.

 

[Trivun]

Through out my journey on the Inter-webs I have come across many different personalities that many people cannot stand, and this rant is about the most prominent and most annoying.

The "Realist"

Now, you may be thinking "A realist is just a person that judges things with probable odds." But that is not the case. The realist I am refering to does not only judges things probably, but works to make sure improbable things stay that way.

If you said to a Realist "If we fund NASA well we could reach Mars in 15 years." They would respond "That money would be better suited for the military or medical purposes." (To some of you this would seem to be a reasonable respones, so just wait till the examples over to complain.) If you said "A cheap and effective way to travel in space has been discovered." They would say in turn "We should deal with domestic problems before going to the stars."
Even if its something as small as a silly prank, the Realist will look down upon it for not having an impact on their life.

The Realist is a result of extreme cynicism and a loss of faith in the Human race, which the last time I checked was 97% of the Escapist.

Disclaimer:I know the first examples are critical on people that oppose space travel, and I don't care.

About NASA, just tell the realists that a lot of the technology we now have and use in everyday situations are a direct result of research into materials and equipment for space travel. Which is actually true. Without groups like NASA and the ESA (European Space Agency), we wouldn't have had many of the things we now take for granted in the past few years...

 

[Azure Sky]

Though I consider myself to be a realist I support space travel and any genetic technology that will give me wolverine-like regenerative abilities. I've long considered a realist to be someone who prays for the best, but prepares for the worst. Apparently, you and I have very different dictionaries. Mine's better, by the way.

This. Seriously.

I also consider myself to be a bit of a Cynical Realist but even I loath people who are too afraid to step forward.

Off topic: I was more partial to the thought of telekinesis myself

 

[Blueruler182]

Because space travel will clearly save us all correct?

You may find cynics annnoying, but what exactly is wrong with realists? That they like to deal with their problems?

All realist are not cynics, and cynics are not realists. The words are not interchangeable.

They don't deal with their problems, they ***** about their problems. There's a difference. I hate the term realist in general because it assumes that these people know a greater truth when all they know is their own experience. It's an insane man calling himself a realist, all he has is his delusions and those are as real to him as anything in your life is to you. A person who calls himself a realist is just arrogant in my books..

Let's take a thought experiment.

Do you believe in Democracy? Do you find it the best choice to run a country out of all choices?

While I will entertain the experiment out of shear boredom, I must warn you that any questions after this one will be answered tomorrow, and I feel the need to inform you that this in no way will be able to change the fact that the view of reality is subject to the individual who feels it.

I believe in democracy, but a country cannot be run "out of all choices" simply because it'd be nothing but bickering. The way it currently works is perfectly fine though.

Fine then, I'm planning on going to sleep anyways. Continue this whenever you can.

You would then say that Democracy is the best form of government, better than any others that you know of?

To be fair, I don't know that many. But yes.

How are you any different from what you hate about realists?

From your own experience, you deduce that Democracy is the grandest form of government. (greater truth). You pointed out a fault in democracy but don't deal with the problem.

You are assuming a greater truth, from your own life experience, and cannot solve this problem (literally impossible) so you merely discuss it.

I don't see what you find wrong about realists.

Do you dislike their attitude? Because that's much different from disliking their belief.

First and foremost, I didn't point out a problem with democracy, I pointed out a problem with your statement of democracy. I pointed out that thousands of voices can't be heard so how democracy actually works, with votes and general consensus, works great. Not once did I point out a problem. Maybe you viewed what I stated as a problem, but I didn't. I did point out something that seemed like a grammar error on your part. So there was nothing to fix, that's why I didn't just ignore everything all together as opposed to bitching about it. Something that separates me from "realists".

Second, I pointed out my own experience was limited, and I could be wrong, so I never assumed it was a greater truth. Two things that separates me from "realists".

Third, dislike their attitude, their belief, and how they go about it. If they've got complaints, that's nice, I don't particularly care, and the nice thing to do would be not to bring the rest of us down with them. The one greater truth I have is that you have to look at both sides of the story as opposed to just pointing out the bad, and even that's not saying anything about the world beyond an action that would be beneficial. I had depression, that's how I fixed it.

Fourth, none of this goes to counter the fact that I said they don't deal with their issues, they just ***** about it. Nor have you countered my statement that calling one's self a realist is arrogant. You've just tried to show me that I have a belief system that wouldn't have come out if you hadn't asked, which wasn't even what the original definition of a "realist" was on this thread. You know, the man who just pulled a negative out of his ass saying that it would never happen due to his definition of human nature as opposed to talking about the pros and cons of the program itself.

And before you note the hypocrisy, I would like to mention that I never stated a greater truth of humanity of a belief of human nature. I talked about a definition of a type of people who chose to call themselves something. Calling me a realist would be akin to saying that my calling an accountant someone who works with numbers the same as someone saying that people are evil. I have beliefs that go with the title they chose, no greater belief on humanity because of it.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Though I consider myself to be a realist I support space travel and any genetic technology that will give me wolverine-like regenerative abilities. I've long considered a realist to be someone who prays for the best, but prepares for the worst. Apparently, you and I have very different dictionaries. Mine's better, by the way.

This. Seriously.

I also consider myself to be a bit of a Cynical Realist but even I loath people who are too afraid to step forward.

Off topic: I was more partial to the thought of telekinesis myself

Yeah, Telekinesis would be cool, but if I could also get beskar bones, I'd be functionally immortal.

 

[philosophicalbastard]

And this thread was meant to be about my problem with a certain philosophy and the debate of it, not of space.

The "philosophy" you describe is not realism. It's conservatism - real, hard, old-school populist conservatism. I'm a realist, and an optimist. The two are not mutually exclusive.

You're probably right about that. I just observed a behavior that irratated me and named it, nothing more.

Snip

Now that is the perfect counter-argument! Unlike you I see the world as an unsolveable problem. The population will always keep growing, diseases like AIDS will eventually be cured but new ones will always pop up, and there will always be a kid somewhere that doesn't learn enough,this is a very cynical view but its the truth. Luanching ourselves into the Heavens may seem stupid, but in the long run the population would decrees, there will be more jobs and atleast it will give the human race a little self-confidense.

 

[Gilhelmi]

The Realist is a result of extreme cynicism and a loss of faith in the Human race, which the last time I checked was 97% of the Escapist.

Also 97% of statistics are made up.

However, I see your point. I do wish that more people would not loss hope for humanity so easily.

 

[Elle-Jai]

The Realist is a result of extreme cynicism and a loss of faith in the Human race

I've long considered a realist to be someone who prays for the best, but prepares for the worst. Apparently, you and I have very different dictionaries.

A realist according to thefreedictionary.com is "One who is inclined to literal truth and pragmatism." According to the Oxford Pocket Australian Dictionary, a realist is the noun for "realism" which is defined as "1. Practice of regarding things in their true nature and dealing with them as they are."

To regard something in its true nature is fine, but no one ever said we couldn't have subcategories of "realist". "Cynical realist" may be one, and "Optimistic realist" could be another. I tend to see things for what they are, but whether I accept them that way is another point entirely.

Apparently you're coming across "Cynical, pessimistic jerks" who self-identify, wrongly, as "realists". It's easy to be cynical with the global news service and greater reach of bad news this millennium; to be an optimist takes practice, heart and hope; three things the former will never understand, let alone achieve.

But then, when we get to space, I vote we leave them here to suffer all on their own... While we optimists are having the best party EVER on Mars... And broadcasting it back to their disbelieving selves =)

 

[philosophicalbastard]

A realist according to thefreedictionary.com is "One who is inclined to literal truth and pragmatism." According to the Oxford Pocket Australian Dictionary, a realist is the noun for "realism" which is defined as "1. Practice of regarding things in their true nature and dealing with them as they are."

To regard something in its true nature is fine, but no one ever said we couldn't have subcategories of "realist". "Cynical realist" may be one, and "Optimistic realist" could be another. I tend to see things for what they are, but whether I accept them that way is another point entirely.

Apparently you're coming across "Cynical, pessimistic jerks" who self-identify, wrongly, as "realists". It's easy to be cynical with the global news service and greater reach of bad news this millennium; to be an optimist takes practice, heart and hope; three things the former will never understand, let alone achieve.

But then, when we get to space, I vote we leave them here to suffer all on their own... While we optimists are having the best party EVER on Mars... And broadcasting it back to their disbelieving selves =)

Thank you for the definition of an actual realist, now we just need a short identifing name for them besides "Cynical, pessimistic jerk".

Hey, I'm fine with you trying your unrealistic and optimistic aims, even as a hyper-realist, but I'm telling you not to be surprised when your mecha can't support its own mass because it sucks. There's a difference, and BTW, I'm in favour of space travel. Fancy that.

Where did the mecha come into any of this?