海角大神

Philanthropist Bill Gates just came out with his . The book that caught my eye was 鈥淔actfulness,鈥� by Hans Rosling, who died last year. You may know the Swedish physician and statistician for his that illustrate improvements in global health care and poverty. We live in an era of tremendous progress yet, Dr. Rosling observes, even the most educated people often don鈥檛 see it.

Mr. Gates describes the book鈥檚 insights as a 鈥渞evelation鈥� in how to see the 鈥渄eveloping鈥� world. What I find intriguing is Rosling鈥檚 thesis that there are 10 basic 鈥渋nstincts鈥� that warp perspective, causing people to misinterpret or hyperbolize events. One example is the fear impulse: Journalists and politicians know that humans tend to pay extra attention to scary things. For each of these mist-inducing tendencies, Rosling offers ways to counter them. For example, if something goes wrong, there鈥檚 an inclination to scapegoat or blame. Don鈥檛 look for villains or heroes, he advises. Look for systemic causes.

: 鈥淎nother remarkable thing about Factfulness 鈥� and about Hans himself 鈥� is that he refuses to judge anyone for their misconceptions鈥�. Hans even resists going after the media.鈥� No wonder I find his ideas appealing!

While Rosling was a scientist, he writes that most of what he learned came 鈥渘ot from studying data 鈥� but spending time with other people.鈥�

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