“I wish I could be optimistic,” she said. “But with wars, racism, the economy, and the results of the election, I can’t find it in me. I go from being anxious to being depressed, with quite a lot of drinking and snapping at my husband in between. Then, there’s my body falling apart. I’m not getting any younger. Everything is falling to pieces. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is kicking my ass.”
I wished she could be optimistic too. I knew she was expecting me to help her find a way. I was her therapist. Finding optimism is my job; but I was up against a law of the universe that says everything will degrade; and she was a scientist, who would never go for anything soft-minded and saccharine.
"Those same laws of thermodynamics actually create life,” I said, in a desperate attempt to suggest something she could believe in. “When energy flows from high to low, following that Second Law you mentioned, it doesn't just dissipate - it creates patterns and complexity along the way. When the sun burns it enables life here on earth. Yes, entropy increases overall, but within that flow, order arises. Things do fall apart - but that creates space for new things to emerge."
“That doesn’t help me any. The whole universe could progress and leave us all behind.”
Pessimism has a good defense. It’s not easy to score, but I’ll tell you how to do it. First, let's understand why we want optimism to win in the first place.
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