[Kiten]

Excuse my stating the "OBVIOUS", however, unbeknownst to the poster of this thread, simply continuing to play implies optimism/ a positive attitude about coming out of the game a winner--or at least improving their present financial position. Being NON-Sane/insane or perhaps continuing to play as a way of avoiding some other situation could also explain the continuance of play without optimism about the obtainable results.

Here's another example, I get in my car, crank it up and point it in the direction of the local Magic Mart. If I were not optimistic about actually getting to the Magic Mart, why get into my car in the first place, that is, of course, unless the act of getting into my car and attempting to go to the Magic Mart is simply an excuse to get out of the house, and in which case, I might just be wanting to be somewhere else. This however, also would imply some optimism being used, because, if we weren't optimistic about the car both cranking up and performing in a mechanically acceptable manner, we would instead be looking for a bike to ride or calling a cab.

So, without long term optimism, we normally would not engage in any activity. This is in contrast to the "Dale Carnigee" stare in the mirror, smile, and say "great" over and over again, approach to optimism.

Having said all this, the option of INSANITY is both viable and often the solid motivator and driving force behind many human actions. For example, it is a well known fact among many experienced gamblers, that many people gamble to Lose--not to win--and for these people, losing money in the casino or at the poker tables is seen as a clensing experience.

As to the general role of positive and negative thought, the optimist says, let's go to the moon, and the pessimist says "HOW EXACTLY" do you propose we do that--step by step?
Thus the steps of "engineering a successful project completion" are laid out, and the inherant problems of optimistic goals solved. So optimism suggests "WHAT", and pessimism details the "HOW" each step both can and cannot be accomplished. The two are inseparable in the "rational" doing of anything.

Benjamine