DOOM & DESPAIR - The Brussels Philosophy Meetup

“You know what? Education just isn’t what it used to be, especially with all those young people wasting their lives online. The [insert decade of your choice], that was a great time! But now everything is getting more expensive and the third world war is coming so future generations will definitely have it worse. Us regular folks can’t do anything about it though, because the system is rigged against us! Nothing ever changes because politicians are all the same and powerful people only care about money while pretending to have ideals. Anyway, all of that doesn’t matter because climate change/AGI will kill us all in a few years.”

Join us for a philosophical conversation about cynicism! Not the ancient one - the modern one! We’ll be discussing questions such as:

Is cynicism a self-fulfilling prophecy?

If it is, do we have a duty to be optimists in practice?

Are optimism and cynicism equally biased ways of seeing the world?

Do we lack gratitude / are our expectations too high?

What’s the difference between genuine worry and cynicism?

Is worrying about increasing cynicism itself a form of cynicism?

Is increasing cynicism a signal for something else?

Can cynical people truly live in accordance with their outlook?

Please arrive on time so you can get a drink before we start! What am I saying… you’ll all be late anyway.