We Don't Need More Cynics. We Need More Builders.

Cynicism is the cheap seats. It’s the fast food of intellectual positions. Anyone can point at something and say it’s broken, corrupt, or destined to fail. The real challenge? Building something better.

I’ve been sitting in the cheap seats, apparently. I’m just happy to be in the stadium, watching live sports, eating fast food.

Putting aside the choice of analogies, I want to accept the challenge—to value creation above critique.

Cynicism comes with hidden taxes. Every time we default to assuming the worst, we pay in missed opportunities, reduced social trust, and diminished creative capacity. These costs compound over time, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy in which cynical expectations shape cynical realities.

Being right feels so good that you’ll continue pursuing it even if it’s making you miserable.

Call it pragmatic meliorism — the belief that while perfect solutions may not exist, better ones do.

Don’t let the pursuit of the perfect become the enemy of “good enough”.