Well put!

Confirmation Bias (CB) also explains cynical pessimism (a slippery hole I keep falling back into): whereas the expectations of idealistic optimism require massive coordinated effort to make real, the predictions of cynical pessimism are given a huge boost simply by spreading a negative attitude.

How many people today are predicting that we will solve our problems and continue to prosper creatively? Very few, and they catch hell from all the cynical pessimists.

How many go around expressing their conviction that we are too stupid/lazy/selfish/evil to save ourselves and will soon cause "what passes for civilization" to collapse catastrophically? Most, I think, and I am as guilty as anyone. We thrive on CB from all the like-minded cynical pessimists and ignore all the contrary evidence, such as that on https://gapminder.org -- which must be distorting obsolete data, right?

Given the proven power of the Nocebo Effect -- see https://jick.ca/?p=152 -- when we succumb to CB we are creating our own doom! (Woops, there I go again!)