It’s a good thing when it leads to potentially better outcomes.

Example: Nouriel “Nostradamus” Roubini, my current geek idol (his Global EconoMonitor (“RGE”) is on my blogroll to the lower right). Roubini has been led the economic community not only in making predictions but also proscriptions with respect to the recent economic meltdowns, the latest example being among the first to call the hedge fund disasters (even my intellectual and aesthetic equal Liz Ann only nailed that today).

It’s a little scary when it leads to utter despair.

Example: Mike Judge, the genius behind Idiocracy. While this masterpiece had (and still has) me in tears, they are bittersweet tears: the film uncannily portrays the lamentable trajectory of American history, illustrating how tragedy and comedy are 2 parts of the same phenomena (i.e. things are just not as they should be).