I relayed the conversation to the Doctor and he said I aim for realistic, but he can't decide if I'm pessimistic or breathtakingly optimistic. As in, he can't make his mind up which is the right description of the conclusion, not that I'm mercurial.
Spider Robinson once wrote a story about creating an experiment--children raised completely by computers, to speak a language without biases when it comes to moral undertones and such, to see how they develop. The moral was that the question of "can the experiment itself could be conducted ethically?" was too messy to even begin with.
It's impossible to know what the base nature is, due to every child being influenced by the manner in which they're raised. However, everyone has the ability to strive to make the world an overall better place to inhabit.
I largely agree. Conversely, I find someone saying 'I could never do x; I'm a good person' to be laughable. That's the part that disturbs the Doctor. He prefers to think of people as tending towards good but sometimes getting it wrong.
I said something about the strength of the determination of people to hold onto civilized behavior is in certain contexts, like, say, the London Blitz amazes me. Far from perfect, but not futile, either.And he pointed out I've gone to a lot of trouble to prove to myself it's not futile. [He shrugs with a touch of sheepishness.]
Comments
[She's tempted to laugh, but doesn't want to seem like she's laughing at him.]
I'd say you're an analytical realist.
I relayed the conversation to the Doctor and he said I aim for realistic, but he can't decide if I'm pessimistic or breathtakingly optimistic. As in, he can't make his mind up which is the right description of the conclusion, not that I'm mercurial.
It's impossible to know what the base nature is, due to every child being influenced by the manner in which they're raised. However, everyone has the ability to strive to make the world an overall better place to inhabit.
Never mind. I'm not sure there's an unbiased way to answer that question, either.