Member-only story
There Is a Big Difference Between “Doomers” and “Doomists”
I think they actually represent two very different attitudes toward the future
I asked one of my many new AI buddies, “what does ‘ist’ as a suffix mean?”
To which he/she/it quickly and confidently replied:
The suffix “-ist” has multiple meanings, including:
A person who performs an action: For example, “motorist” or “typist”
A person who practices in a specific field: For example, “physicist” or “geologist”
A person who advocates a particular doctrine: For example, “socialist” or “Buddhist”
A person characterized by a specified trait: For example, “purist” or “sexist” …
Here are some examples of words that use the suffix “-ist”:
Apologist, Dramatist, Machinist, Realist, Socialist, and Thomist.
To which I would add: Doomist
To me, a “Doomer” is a very different kind of person than a “Doomist”. A Doomer is essentially a “prepper” or “survivalist”, that is, someone who is preparing to survive whatever Armageddon has in store for them (note we call them preppers, not preppists). A Doomer imagines they can make it through any coming apocalypse…