Gloom and Light

Short term pessimist, long term optimist, me. Keeps me going. I don't think the universe has exhausted its capacity to surprise and delight, and we are part of that. The unexpected isn't always catastrophic. It's more likely to be if we expect it to be. We have little input into an appallingly contingent world, but we do have some. There's even a quantitative demonstration of the fact: Edward Lorenz's work showing weather so exquisitely dependent on initial conditions that a butterfly's flight can affect it is but one example. His work is usually cited as evidence of human futility before an unknowable universe. I'd suggest quite the opposite: small actions can have large, unexpected, distant consequences.

Go ahead, give the guy a nail; maybe he won't need a horse shoe...