BUILD THINGS AND TAKE CHANCES

One of my most provocative beliefs is that not all cultures are equal, and that some are better than others. Most people I bring this up with think that it has something to do with how the worst cultures don't value things like tolerance or integrity, and immediately interpret it as having American culture in the top percentile and some third world culture at the bottom. This isn't what I mean. If my take could be visualized as a spectrum, it would look more like having American West Coast culture in the top percentile and French culture at the bottom. The former seems to embed unprecedented optimism to an almost irrational level, while the latter comes with a dangerous form of pessimism I like to refer to as "sophisticated cynicism".

This can easily be observed by laying out novel, slightly controversial ideas to ordinary people across different cultures, and witnessing their reactions to them. In a place like the American West Coast, you will likely get people to root for you and maybe even help you out. Try it in Paris and your idea is more likely to be met with rapid dismissal accompanied with a seemingly clever, rational explanation as to why it would never work.

I now believe that a handful of cultures —with the French atop— might have taken a wrong turn and pervasively evolved into encouraging the dismissal of ambitious ideas, as it makes those who dismiss them feel more intelligent, giving them the illusion of some intellectual high ground. I think this alone explains the stagnation of places like Europe, and by contrast, the astounding growth of places like California.

“People in the EU are super wise. You have a meal with some sort of French person who works in Brussels—it's very impressive. They're cultured, they have wonderful taste, they understand all these different countries, they know something about Chinese porcelain. And if you lived in a world ruled by them, the growth rate would be negative 1%. So there's some way in which all these things have to balance. I think the US has done a marvelous job at that, and we need to preserve that.”

Tyler Cowen

I also believe this observation applies to subcultures in which sophisticated cynicism became encouraged in the hope of sounding smarter. Notice how many headlines on Hacker News reflect the pessimism of the community, and how it gets worse as you dig through the comments. Notice how many academics are quick to shrug off any novel methods and how it correlates with the stagnation of academia as a source of technological progress. My conclusion to all of this is that any culture that values sounding smarter over sheer curiosity and optimism will inevitably evolve into a cynical, pessimistic one.

"Pessimists sound smart. Optimists make money (edit: and get to have all the fun)."

Nat Friedman

For a while, I was stuck in this cynical, pessimistic phase, and the main catalyst out of it was realizing that people who live to tell their peers "I told you so" at their lowest points are sore, bitter losers. It just isn't worth it to sound smart at the expense of someone else's effort getting flushed. Face it: At its core, pessimism is cope for one's inability to take chances. I really hope that laying it out this way will help some of my peers avoid this phase I went through. Even if it helps a handful, I will consider it my repentance and absolution.

It's a thief in the night to come and grab you
It can creep up inside you and consume you
A disease of the mind, it can control you
I feel like a monster, oh
[...]
Your mind's in Disturbia
It's like the darkness is light

Rihanna, Disturbia

The only way out of culturally encouraged pessimism is to rewire yourself into a Walt Disney-level optimist, overnight. Force it until it becomes part of you. Life is electric when you pick optimism. Take chances. Build things. Surround yourself with people who emanate light and smile in the face of limitations. Walk around like god sent you and spread abundance and optimism.