Ryan Haraki
A few years ago, I wrote an essay called “optimism”. During this essay, I coin the term “irrational optimism” and make the argument that it is irrational to do big things, because the status quo already works. Because of this, I claimed many of the most rational people know when to be irrational.
Most importantly, I claim that optimism cannot coexist with rationality. That was 2 years ago and I was 19 - just entering university. I’ve used the term irrational optimism in conversations since then, and have seen others adopt it (likely not because of me). I brought up the term irrational optimism in a conversation about two weeks ago with someone I deeply respect and look up to, and she proved to me that I was wrong and that the inverse is true - rationality is often masked as irrational.
While discussing this, I mentioned that often I don’t think particularly hard about the things I do, I just “do them” and this extends to much of my thought process, even trickling down to exams (it does NOT work well on exams). I claimed that I have this sort of “irrational optimism” where if I do what I believe to be right, it will work well for me.
She quickly disagreed, and mentioned that I’m likely very rational and think more than other people do. Her words went completely against what I believed to be true 2 years ago: that the status quo is irrational.
An example of this we discussed is that since the economy is down right now, it is irrational to start a company because it’s harder to raise funds/get customers. Instead, she brought up the other perspective: if you’re working at a big tech company, you’ll probably just end up getting laid off and your fate is largely out of your control. If you start a company, your fate is in your control: nobody can lay you off, and if you make it through this period, then you have a significantly higher chance of success later on compared to companies that are started in 0 interest rate environments.
Because of this, it’s not wise to follow the status quo. If you’re in a position to start a company, you should in fact start one. Because most people think a certain way (and you are told to think that way), thinking about things from a different perspective or coming to a unique conclusion is easily dismissible as being irrational, when in fact it’s simply a mask to the truth.
People are usually right about things that directly surround them, but very often are wrong about things outside of that tiny locus of control. It’s up to you to examine and think for yourself.
The term she coined was a “rational optimist”, which negated my original proposition that rationality and optimism cannot coexist.
It turns out, rationality can indeed be fuel for optimism. By thinking rationally, you often come to ideas that do not conform to the status quo but you know are correct - when this happens, it’s wise to continue exploring those ideas, because you indeed are probably correct.
The summary? Do not be blinded by the false notions of rationality society places upon us - the only rational thing to do is seek the truth. It is possible, and likely that you will come to different conclusions than most people do. This is a good thing. It means you can change things, often for the better. The knowledge that you can do this should fuel your optimism.