I agree that it felt counter-intuitive, at first, to assign counting up to the pessimists and counting down to the optimists. I think really what this points at is that, for me at least, “optimists” and “pessimists” are terms that aren’t really cutting reality at the joints.
I think it’s a sort of fundamentally pessimistic move to start at zero, but then there’s optimism and enthusiasm for each step up. And I think it’s sort of fundamentally optimistic to start at 100, but then there’s pessimism and holding-to-a-standard with each point knocked off. So I weaken my claim that either strategy is heavily one or the other.
I agree that it felt counter-intuitive, at first, to assign counting up to the pessimists and counting down to the optimists. I think really what this points at is that, for me at least, “optimists” and “pessimists” are terms that aren’t really cutting reality at the joints.
I think it’s a sort of fundamentally pessimistic move to start at zero, but then there’s optimism and enthusiasm for each step up. And I think it’s sort of fundamentally optimistic to start at 100, but then there’s pessimism and holding-to-a-standard with each point knocked off. So I weaken my claim that either strategy is heavily one or the other.