Most people's brains are hard-wired to generate an optimistic outlook on life. Evolution, it seems, has favored an ability to look into the future and see good things happening.
Such is the message of TIME magazine's cover story this week, "The Optimism Bias." It's a highly interesting article.
Tali Sharot, the author, says that "optimism starts with what may be the most extraordinary of human talents: mental time travel, the ability to move back and forth through time and space in one's mind."
This ability was naturally selected for in the course of Homo sapiens' evolution because it had so many survival advantages, such as planning ahead for a future reward. However, mental time travel comes with a big downside.
While mental time travel has clear survival advantages, conscious foresight came to humans at an enormous price — the understanding that somewhere in the future, death awaits. Ajit Varki, a biologist at the University of California, San Diego, argues that the awareness of mortality on its own would have led evolution to a dead end.
The despair would have interfered with our daily function, bringing the activities needed for survival to a stop. The only way conscious mental time travel could have arisen over the course of evolution is if it emerged together with irrational optimism. Knowledge of death had to emerge side by side with the persistent ability to picture a bright future.
For atheists and agnostics, their focus is on a bright future in this life. But religious believers use their mental time traveling ability to envision a wonderfully pleasant life after death, otherwise known as heaven, paradise, god-realization, and such.
Optimism is great. Feeling that the future is beckoning us to good times fuels us with energy, enthusiasm, and the courage to overcome bumps along the Happiness Road.
We should understand, though, that our brains are doing what evolution has wrought when a sunny happy face beams down upon us as we contemplate the next unseen bends on our life's course. Optimism can blind our ability to discern reality as it is, rather than how we'd like it to be.
Most people believe in life after death. Religiosity is the default for humans, since it fosters an optimism that can mentally time travel on into eternity. "God is guiding my life here on Earth, and after I die He'll usher me into everlasting heavenly bliss!"
Well, almost certainly not. It can feel good to think that way, and there's nothng wrong with feeling good. We just should know what's going on in our brains when realism takes a back seat to optimism.
The TIME article ends with:
Why would our brains be wired in this way? It is tempting to speculate that optimism was selected by evolution precisely because, on balance, positive expectations enhance the odds of survival. Research findings that optimists live longer and are healthier, plus the fact that most humans display optimistic biases — and emerging data that optimism is linked to specific genes — all strongly support this hypothesis.
Yet optimism is also irrational and can lead to unwanted outcomes. The question then is, How can we remain hopeful — benefiting from the fruits of optimism — while at the same time guarding ourselves from its pitfalls?
I believe knowledge is key. We are not born with an innate understanding of our biases. The brain's illusions have to be identified by careful scientific observation and controlled experiments and then communicated to the rest of us. Once we are made aware of our optimistic illusions, we can act to protect ourselves.
The good news is that awareness rarely shatters the illusion. The glass remains half full. It is possible, then, to strike a balance, to believe we will stay healthy, but get medical insurance anyway; to be certain the sun will shine, but grab an umbrella on our way out — just in case.
”................argues that the awareness of mortality on its own would have led evolution to a dead end.
And ”The despair would have interfered with our daily function, bringing the activities needed for survival to a stop.”
Not so sure I agree with this. We all see people dying around us, from friends to loved ones, to people we don’t know. We are aware that death awaits us and it seems to be that we are all going to get a chance at it, sooner or later. But our culture sees death as a taboo subject and don’t like talking about it and hence build up their own fear, belief around it.
If we look at someone who has been told they only have a few months to live, a lot of the time they end up enjoying life because they let go of wanting anything to be different and seem to have a deeper more profound relationship with themselves and people around them. The outcome of this seems to be happiness and acceptance.
I do agree that because we ‘see’ death, though maybe not understanding it or any real knowing about what comes next if anything, that despair has interfered with our daily function and becomes searching /seeking / beliefs V living but I don’t think that would have brought activities needed for survival to a stop. We all seem to have survival ‘wired’ into us.
Optimism in the typical sense ultimately means we expect the best possible outcome from any given moment.
Atheists and believers – one is focused on a bright future in this life, while the other is focused on a bright future on life after death. Future being the operative word.
Both still living in the future and not being present or living in the here and now – the only real thing that most of us seem to have.
”Optimism can blind our ability to discern reality as it is, rather than how we'd like it to be.
Like everything else, if it is taken seriously and held on to like ‘desires and beliefs’ without the balance of openness and honesty.
Optimism could be a way of feeling everything is alright and will always be all right – here and now, regarding the ‘bumps’ that come along. Being optimistic that things always will work out for the best, regarding what way we want them to be or without interfering or manipulating for them same reasons. Yes we may have preferences but we hold them lightly.
It doesn’t mean to be blind but to see what needs to be seen and appropriate action to be taken at the time.
Final Optimistic note;
Some love to love RS/BJ and others love to hate RS/BJ.
Both is LOVE ;) Happy Days.....
Marina
Posted by: Marina | May 31, 2011 at 11:29 PM
Once long time ago I've read a story about a man having a meaningful existence as a revolutionary. Each day he had important things to do and fights to win. Than one day he was arrested and condemned to death. His execution was going to happen in a day but someone made a mistake and he was set free when he was supposed to die. His live was saved but it lost all meaning. In the face of death every effort to liberate mankind was utterly meaningless he realized. So I guess for us to give a meaning to life we better not think about the utterly meaninglessness in death. (The story was by sartre).
Posted by: Nietzsche | June 01, 2011 at 10:23 AM
Nietzsche,
"So I guess for us to give a meaning to life we better not think about the utterly meaninglessness in death."
--You make a very good point. This giving and not giving of meaning is worth examination.
Posted by: Roger | June 01, 2011 at 11:08 AM
How bad can being dead really be? To my way of thinking, it would be really bad if I somehow survived my death.
I can tell you truthfully that I definitely do not want to.
What really pisses me off is that I do not want life in general to be what it appears to be.
But that is none of your concern.
Posted by: Willie R | June 02, 2011 at 08:18 AM
Yes Roger, is complicated but I feel I'm not making things clearer. But somehow meaning is like the fuel we need to run the honda of life while in the end the running of the car made no difference to the whole thing. Something like that. But nothing to worry about ;) I thought the story by Sartre was brilliant when I first read it. I think it was called 'le mur'.
Posted by: Nietzsche | June 02, 2011 at 03:38 PM