Filmmaker Errol Morris has written a relatively sparse column for The New York Times , in which he basically wants folks to chime-in as to whether or not they're an optimist or a pessimist about humanity surviving a massive asteroid impacting the Earth. I went ahead and answered the two-part questionnaire at the end of the article, even though the subject matter didn't really move me one way or the other. What did interest me, however, is the question of whether one is an optimist or a pessimist. Specifically, I am interested in whether one becomes more pessimistic about the future when they grow older. Allow me to explain.