Sublime

Most countries that make great economic and social progress are not democracies.

There are three common warning signs that someone might be telling you (or you might be telling yourself) an overdramatic gap story and triggering your gap instinct. Let’s call them comparisons of averages, comparisons of extremes, and the view from up here.

Gardez en tête que même si les changements positifs sont plus courants, ils ne viendront pas jusqu’à vous. C’est à vous de les trouver. (Et si vous regardez les statistiques, ils sont partout.)

s’il est si difficile de déboulonner la vision dramatique du monde, c’est parce qu’elle vient de la façon dont notre cerveau fonctionne.

the negativity instinct: our tendency to notice the bad more than the good.

in order to make us better realize our future limits and opportunities.

The most important thing you can do to avoid misjudging something’s importance is to avoid lonely numbers. Never, ever leave a number all by itself.

Assim, como as autoridades e os políticos poderiam resolver os problemas globais se estavam trabalhando com fatos errados?

Of the ten countries with the fastest economic growth in 2016, nine of them score low on democracy. Anyone who claims that democracy is a necessity for economic growth and health improvements will risk getting contradicted by reality. It’s better to argue for democracy as a goal in itself instead of as a superior means to other goals we like.