conventions - Why have they chosen this direction for current in the RC circuit? Seems pretty artificial to me

The thing is, they use this direction for current flow to derive the equation

$-iR-\frac{q}{c}=0$ and then derive the equation $q(t)=Q_o e^\frac{-t}{RC}$ from the differential equation $\frac{dq}{dt}=\frac{-q}{RC}.$

This seems pretty artifical to me, because if I use the other direction for current, which seems more natural to me, I don't get the same equation for $q(t)$. Any ideas?

Another thing which seems artificial is that their equation produces a "negative current" which is really just there to satisfy the =0 equality. And which means, and wrongly, that the resistor is giving energy to the system and not the exterior. (That's what I think, I may be wrong).