Author Matt Ridley in an interview says,
"my answer is that pessimism gets attention – from funders, from the media, from governments. Also, for reasons I do not fully understand, it sounds wiser than optimism." (emphasis added)
I'd add that aside from personal interests in terms of attention and reputation, political agenda can always be a major motivating factor for advancing pessimistic agenda by the intellectuals.
Fear, brought about by intense pessimism, are often justification for interventionism or inflationism. As 2nd US President John Adams once said "Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable..."
Matt Ridley has great insights in the interview (on technology and the environment). And here is an example where pessimism could be used as a political tool...
Again Mr. Ridley, ``Many times in history, promising bursts of openness, trade, innovation and growth have been snuffed out by the erection of barriers to the free flow of things and thoughts. It happened to Phoenician Tyre, classical Greece, Mauryan India, Ming China, Abbasid Arabia, imperial Rome, golden-age Holland. It happened to America in the 1930s, to Latin America and India after the second world war, to China after the communist take-over. Protectionism, tariffs, piracy, war, or imperial plunder – they all have the same impoverishing effect if they interrupt trade. Liberalization, by contrast, dramatically raised the standard of living of Hong Kong, China after 1980, India after 1990, South Korea versus North Korea and so on. And there are always short-term incentives pushing people to recommend protectionist or plundering measures." (emphasis added)
Yet most of the current interventionist policies are rooted on such pessimism (which ironically have been caused by the same set of prior actions).
"my answer is that pessimism gets attention – from funders, from the media, from governments. Also, for reasons I do not fully understand, it sounds wiser than optimism." (emphasis added)
I'd add that aside from personal interests in terms of attention and reputation, political agenda can always be a major motivating factor for advancing pessimistic agenda by the intellectuals.
Fear, brought about by intense pessimism, are often justification for interventionism or inflationism. As 2nd US President John Adams once said "Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable..."
Matt Ridley has great insights in the interview (on technology and the environment). And here is an example where pessimism could be used as a political tool...
Again Mr. Ridley, ``Many times in history, promising bursts of openness, trade, innovation and growth have been snuffed out by the erection of barriers to the free flow of things and thoughts. It happened to Phoenician Tyre, classical Greece, Mauryan India, Ming China, Abbasid Arabia, imperial Rome, golden-age Holland. It happened to America in the 1930s, to Latin America and India after the second world war, to China after the communist take-over. Protectionism, tariffs, piracy, war, or imperial plunder – they all have the same impoverishing effect if they interrupt trade. Liberalization, by contrast, dramatically raised the standard of living of Hong Kong, China after 1980, India after 1990, South Korea versus North Korea and so on. And there are always short-term incentives pushing people to recommend protectionist or plundering measures." (emphasis added)
Yet most of the current interventionist policies are rooted on such pessimism (which ironically have been caused by the same set of prior actions).
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