Oh I wouldn't necessarily blame evolution since as for me,
   focusing on the good is a survival skill driven by diffusing an
   exaggerated sense of danger.

   When I was little, I'd suffer from anxiety attacks. Probably 8
   yrs old on up. At 11, Mom took me to biofeedback. Learned to
   control my breathing, had to make machines noises go up and down
   with only the force of my mind and stuff like that. Felt very
   Star Wars-y to me so I didn't mind at all.

   So I would exaggerate the positive as a response - hm - thinking
   about it, I think you're onto something here.

   There's few REAL dangers in civilized society yet we create
   IMAGINARY dangers continually. News media feeds on it. Movies
   feed on it. Scientists feed on it (so that we listen to them -
   they LOVE doom and gloom prophesies) as well as other religious
   leaders....

   Maybe it's to feed that circuit (there's computer-brain analogy
   here) - that needs stimulation - the fight/freeze/flight
   amygdala so that we don't get bored, and keep moving, doing,
   creating, etc.

   Maybe fear *is* the driving force. I certainly credit the
   Amygdala for many processes - and while there are more emotions
   than fear that the amygdala produces, still, at the 'gist' of it
   all, I suppose it's that.

   Interesting food for thought, Jay. Maybe it *is* evolutionary
   and my anti-Dawkins bias was blinding me. He kinda wrecked my
   interest in evolutionary type analogies..