Factfulness-Hans Rosling

***/*****                                                                                                                                     Science

Factfulness: Ten reasons why we are wrong about the world and why things are better than you think

Hans Rosling

Human mind evolved to proffer certain advantage to its owner, so that the latter could survive better in its environment and consequently leave behind more copies of its genes. Knowledge of imminent dangers lurking just around the corner, choice about nutritious food, ways to procure a healthy mate and nurture a large brood of children; these skills helped in out-breeding other species. Sadly, most intricate knowledge of how world worked, was not necessary in this scheme of things. But human mind has one great capacity. It never fails to come up with an answer to a riddle, of which it has no clue, whatsoever. It brings into action, mechanisms it employs to solve similar problems, though of vastly different nature and conjures an answer. It builds a coherent, believable narrative from such inferences and uses them to unravel many other mysteries of day-to-day living. This capacity to work by intuition, rather than rigorous reasoning helps the organism to successfully and expeditiously navigate hurdle-ridden life. But this propensity also builds an inherent bias in human decision-making apparatus, when confronted with situations that require knowledge of facts and figures. For reasoning and statistics are anathema to the intuitive, story-loving, instantly deciding human mind.

In this book, Hans Rosling, a Public Health professional, presents a strong case to adapt a fact-based worldview. Our worldview influences the manner in which we perceive future, present problems afflicting humanity, the real and imagined dangers to our wellbeing, measures we think are appropriate to solve the seemingly humungous problems of the world, our xenophobia, our empathies or condemnation of world-poor and many such areas. Blindness for fact-based worldview afflicts not only lay people, but also professionals like politicians, environmentalists, governments of nations, policy planners, businessmen, etc. These are the people who rely on their perceptions about world to decide future course action, which affect lives of millions. And in many areas their judgements are widely at variance from the truth as revealed by facts. Reason for fact-blindness of man lies in the way our mind has evolved and hence, it is not possible to conquer these fault-producing mechanisms. Only recourse is to be aware of the fallacies of our instincts in certain situations and to rely on facts in these instances, rather than on the forceful assertion of our mind. This is of utmost importance for people whose decisions affect lives of large number of people. Hans Rosling groups the reasons for our faulty worldview under ten instincts of human mind and devotes a chapter to each. He illustrates each with many, real-life examples, which are fascinating to read and easy to grasp. Book is written in a simple prose, providing clear and concise explanations of concepts discussed. I remembered Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast & Slow as I read the instincts Rosling mentions in each chapter. Kahneman has explained the psychological basis of these instincts in his stunningly lucid book.

Factfulness is a must read for every person who thinks about our world and contemplates the fate of its occupants. It is indispensable for professionals whom people elect or in whom they repose faith, to improve their lot.