# Half-full vs half-empty **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [February 21, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844 "2014-02-21T22:13:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![David\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@David\_L](https://community.cartalk.com/u/David_L)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/1 "2014-02-21T22:13:30Z")
This has shown up recently in an otherwise closed discussion thread: The pessimist see the glass as half-empty. The optimist sees the glass as half-full. The engineer sees the glass as to big. Actually, the glass is full; it just happens to have two (or more) substances in it. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/2 "2014-02-21T22:26:43Z")
Ah! A physicist! A subscriber to “anitimatter” theory! ---
**Author:** ![David\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@David\_L](https://community.cartalk.com/u/David_L)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/3 "2014-02-21T23:45:21Z")
I was talking only about the “promatter” (the liquid and the gas). “Antimatter” brings in a whole other dimension. Multi-verse theory would mean an infinite number of substances in the glass, which would make it more than “full”. ---
**Author:** ![oldtimer-11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e79b87/32.png) [@oldtimer-11](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldtimer-11)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/4 "2014-02-22T00:33:01Z")
A cheapskate sees the glass as too expensive. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/5 "2014-02-22T01:00:16Z")
Multiverse might be interpreted as meaning there is an endless number of glasses… And quantum physicists would say the glass could be anywhere. Existentialists would just “let the glass be”. ---
**Author:** ![missileman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/missileman/32/1366_2.png) [@missileman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/missileman)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/6 "2014-02-22T03:51:59Z")
The cheapskate always sees the glass full even if it’s just air. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/7 "2014-02-22T03:54:57Z")
The older I get the less I really care if the glass is half full or half empty and just wonder if there’s a water shortage or not and have to ration again. ---
**Author:** ![ken\_green](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/ken_green/32/816_2.png) [@ken\_green](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ken_green)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 4:30am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/8 "2014-02-22T04:30:01Z")
Was it empty to start with and someone filled it halfway and stopped ?-----half full. Was the glass full to start with then someone drank or emptied out half ?-----half empty. Who’s fingerprints are on the glass ? ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 4:39am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/9 "2014-02-22T04:39:01Z")
Nervous Nellie would say…_ **Watch out for broken glass!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/10 "2014-02-22T05:24:22Z")
Some days I am just glad to have something in the glass, half full is better than nothing. ---
**Author:** ![meaneyedcatz](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/meaneyedcatz/32/692_2.png) [@meaneyedcatz](https://community.cartalk.com/u/meaneyedcatz)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 8:36am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/11 "2014-02-22T08:36:15Z")
Besides air what else was in the glass? ---
**Author:** ![252525](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/a88e57/32.png) [@252525](https://community.cartalk.com/u/252525)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:29am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/12 "2014-02-24T06:29:46Z")
There is no such thing as a pessimist, just a well informed optimist… ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/13 "2014-02-24T06:37:07Z")
The glass and the measure is the same either half full or half empty. It is the observer that makes the interpretation, but it matters not to the glass. barkydog 02/2014 ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:49am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/14 "2014-02-24T06:49:31Z")
A realist just sees half a glass… ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:50am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/15 "2014-02-24T06:50:20Z")
An optimist is just someone who doesn’t yet know all the facts… ---
**Author:** ![oblivion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@oblivion](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oblivion)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:50am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/16 "2014-02-24T06:50:42Z")
Well, if you subscribe to the “many worlds” theory of alternate universes, the glass exists in all states of being full/empty, everything in between, existing, never having been manufactured at all, having been broken yesterday, etc. Somewhere anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 7:13am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/17 "2014-02-24T07:13:11Z")
Sure throw Schrödinger’s cat into it, then ask what is consciousness… ---
**Author:** ![oblivion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@oblivion](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oblivion)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/18 "2014-02-24T16:37:21Z")
Consciousness is that time between naps. Or maybe this is the dream we’re having from that other reality. If so, I wonder what I ate before going to bed… ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 9:00am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/19 "2014-02-25T09:00:44Z")
I hope my other consciousness in the parallel universe did better with life than I did… ---
**Author:** ![oblivion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@oblivion](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oblivion)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844/20 "2014-02-25T16:29:52Z")
@the same mountainbike: I hear ya. Remember the show “Quantum Leap?” There are times in my life that I wished someone would have stepped in and kept me from really effing up a situation 🙂 [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/half-full-vs-half-empty/83844.md?page=2)