Skepticism vs. Cynicism

From www.dictionary.com:

skep·ti·cism   /ˈskɛptəˌsɪzəm/ Show Spelled[skep-tuh-siz-uhm] Show IPA
–noun
1.skeptical attitude or temper; doubt.
2.doubt or unbelief with regard to a religion, esp. Christianity.
3.(initial capital letter) the doctrines or opinions of philosophical Skeptics; universal doubt.
Origin:
1640–50; < NL scepticismus, equiv. to L sceptic(us) skeptic + -ismus -ism

—Related forms
an·ti·skep·ti·cism, noun


—Synonyms
1. questioning, probing, testing. 2. disbelief, atheism, agnosticism.


—Antonyms
2. faith.

cyn·i·cal   /ˈsɪnɪkəl/ Show Spelled[sin-i-kuhl] Show IPA
–adjective
1.like or characteristic of a cynic; distrusting or disparaging the motives of others.
2.showing contempt for accepted standards of honesty or morality by one's actions, esp. by actions that exploit the scruples of others.
3.bitterly or sneeringly distrustful, contemptuous, or pessimistic.
4.(initial capital letter) cynic (def. 5).

Origin:
1580–90; cynic + -a

—Synonyms
1, 3. Cynical, pessimistic, sarcastic, satirical imply holding a low opinion of humanity. Cynical suggests a disbelief in the sincerity of human motives: cynical about honesty. Pessimistic implies a more or less habitual disposition to look on the dark side of things, and to believe that the worst will happen: pessimistic as to the future. Sarcastic refers to sneering or making cutting jibes: sarcastic about a profession of faith. Satirical suggests expressing scorn or ridicule by saying the opposite of what one means: a satirical attack on his political promises.


—Antonyms
1, 3. optimistic.

Fascinating. it perhaps would have been shorter to say that Skepticism is positive doubt, ie. it saves you time, money, face whatever you can profit by it. Cynicism is negative it saves you friends, respect, party invitations, responsibilities. You lose out by it.

In my year 12 validictory speech I said something akin to 'Believe anything wonderful until it asks you for time or money.'
Now I'm sure I've blurred the line between the above positive and negative incarnations of doubt time and time again, but it's because I think skepticism is just plain old healthy.

The most obvious example I can think of is get a group of people and give them a task to perform in 5 minutes. Chances are they will come up with a pretty obvious solution to the task within about 30 seconds then plough into the action with varying degrees of success.
Skepticism is the counter-intuitive yet immensely positive process of suspending your belief that you came up with the best answer first, you would then shelve the first plan and tike away another minute (or 4) trying to come up with better easier solutions. Viola! Positive process.

Cynicism is where somebody in the group says 'I doubt 5 minutes will be enough to complete the task, we may as well give up now.' negative process.

I saw a tv show once that said Yoko Ono once tried every way to sit on a chair, before concluding that planting your arse on the seat and your back resting on the back was indeed the best way to sit on a chair. Does it make her skepticism a waste of time? Absolutely not. That's the creative process.

Talking to a friend last night he mentioned an incidence of telepathy, that is the ability for one brain to transmit a thought directly to another brain. My skeptical mind tried to come up with a more creative alternative to the telepathy scenario than suggesting the obvious answers 'inattention' and 'body language' so I just pointed out that if minds could communicate with each other directly, we wouldn't need nerves running to our hands. Infact our hands wouldn't need to be attached to our bodies.

We could run wireless baby, so why would anyone want to communicate (one-way) with another consciousness. It would be far more practical to communicate with a vending machine. Incidently, telepaths could concievably be immune to spinal injuries.

Creative, although the concept has been explored before with Doctor Octupus in Spiderman. (the comics, not the movie).