[extropy-chat] Fear and Hope

[Robin Hanson]

At 12:33 AM 7/15/2005, Damien Sullivan wrote:
>On Thu, Jul 14, 2005 at 09:00:29PM -0400, Robin Hanson wrote:
> > Perhaps this is obvious to others, but it recently occurred to me that hope
> > usually needs something more specific to latch on to than fear does.  You
> > might fear strangers in general at night, but you need to know something
>
>I'm not sure.  One might be nervous and primed to fear while walking alone at
>night, but real full fear will require a target -- some moving shadow.

OK, but if you are lost in the woods at night, all it takes is a weird sound
or an unknown shape to inspire fear, while hope requires far more and more
unusual detail, such as the visual outline of a cabin where you could stay.



Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323