Factfulness Book Summary | By Hans Rosling

Table of Contents

Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, and Anna Rosling Rönnlund’s Perspective

Swedish physician, scholar, and public speaker Hans Rosling was born. Hans created the Gapminder Foundation and the Trendalyzer software system alongside Anna. Hans promoted the use of data analysis to investigate development-related issues.

Hans Rosling’s son is Ola Rosling. Ola is a statistician with a reputation for improving global quality of life through his work with Gapminder. He presently serves as the Gapminder Foundation’s chairman, director, and co-founder.

Swedish designer Anna Rosling Rönnlund created Trendalyzer alongside the other two authors of this book. She presently serves as Tendalyzer’s vice president of design and usability. Additionally, she founded Dollar Street. A website called Dollar Street aids in the visualisation of various residential streets.

Introduction

Hans Rosling, a statistician and physician, published Factfulness after his death. Together with his son Ola Rosling and his daughter-in-law Anna Rosling Rönnlund, he co-wrote this book. The book’s central thesis is that most people have the false idea of how the world is doing. All of us tend to overstate the bad things in the world. Contrary to statistics, we think that the globe is poorer, less healthy, and more dangerous. Hans believes that we should have four income levels instead of classifying the world into developed and developing countries. In addition, he lists seven instincts that hold back human evolution. Bill Gates listed this book as one of his top five books of 2018 and it went on to become a worldwide bestseller.

What Is Factfulness?

Being factual is the stress-relieving practise of only holding opinions for which you have substantial supporting evidence. It is a collection of tools that will aid in your information processing.

The Gap Instinct

The gap instinct has to do with how we have a tendency to categorise topics into two groups. By categorising these two categories as good vs evil and wealthy versus poor, we amplify the divide between them. The gap instinct is most evident in the way we categorise nations as developed or developing. These labels were first used in the 1960s. This kind of instinct is one that has a “us vs. them” outlook.

The majority of people currently live in the center, which is the reality of the developed and developing labels. Between industrialized and developing nations, there is little obvious difference. It is therefore preferable to divide them into four income categories. Level 1 would be the lowest level of poverty, and level 4 would be the highest level of development.

We must acknowledge that the majority of our first-hand experiences are from level 4 in order to adopt a Factfulness approach. Then, our mass media serves as the foundation for our secondhand knowledge of other levels. Unusual happenings will always be covered by the media. We will never be able to see reality as it is on other levels.

The following three warning indications, according to the authors, set off your gap instinct:

There will be gaps created if you compare averages. However, there is frequently a substantial wealth gap across nations.

When you contrast extremes, you do not represent the bulk of a nation’s citizens.
If you reside at level 4, everyone else seems to be significantly less wealthy than you.
We should seek out the majority if we want to control the Gap Instinct.

The Negativity Instinct

Second, it’s human nature to concentrate more on the negative than the positive. As a result, we also think that things are becoming worse. That is not the situation. We instead remember the past incorrectly. Additionally, journalists only publish unfavourable news. And lastly, we frequently react emotionally rather than rationally. Because of this emphasis on sentiments, we find it difficult to declare that things are improving. Because horrible things are still happening, we feel uncomfortable.

Accepting that horrible things happen but that the world can and is still improving can help us to overcome this pessimistic impulse. Negative news stories meant to get our attention shouldn’t be allowed to distort the truth about the world.

Furthermore, we must avoid seeing the past as if it were faultless. We should think about how things have changed since many horrible things occurred in the past. The authors offer 16 instances of negative things that have been better through time:

Legal Slavery
Oil Spills
Expensive Solar Panels
HIV Infections
Children Dying
Battle Deaths
Death Penalty
Leaded Gasoline
Plane Crash Deaths
Child Labor
Deaths from Disaster
Nuclear Arms
Smallpox
Smoke Particles
Ozone Depletion
Hunger

Plus, they also provide 16 examples of positive things that have become more common over time:

New Movies
Protected Nature
Women’s Right to Vote
New Music
Science
Harvest
Literacy
Democracy
Child Cancer Survival
Girls in School
Monitored Species
Electricity Coverage
Mobile Phones
Water from Protected Sources
Internet
Immunization

The fact that things frequently only improve gradually is the reason we find it difficult to picture the world as improving. As a result, we frequently do not hear about these advancements. Expect negative news if you want to curb your natural tendency toward negativity.

The Instinct to Go Straight

Humans frequently believe incorrectly that events in the world should unfold in a straight path. We anticipate that as the world improves, it must do so continuously and without interruption. But a number of things affect the trend.

Remembering that curves can come in a variety of sizes and shapes is the greatest method for us to regulate this prone to error impulse. Furthermore, we must acknowledge that straight lines are far less often than we imagine. A straight line is formed when two points are connected. A curve, however, results from the addition of any third point that is not exactly parallel to these points.

Instead, we can observe troughs in an upward trend if we visualise the data as a curve. We can grow from these setbacks and see them as chances to educate ourselves.

You need to keep in mind that curves can take on many shapes in order to regulate the Straight Line inclination.

The Fear Instinct

For human survival, fear has always been crucial. Fear, however, is useless when analysing data. We see the world distortedly when we are terrified. When given information, we frequently create the worst-case scenarios. Evolutionarily, we were forced to treat any threat with a “worst-case scenario” mentality. This method of handling fear allowed us to persist as a species, but it has caused us to exaggerate issues today. However, when we want to use critical thinking, this strategy is useless.

This frightened way of thinking is fueled by how events are reported in the media. The world’s risks will be reported in the news. The fact is, nevertheless, that horrible things still happen.

Nevertheless, these negative consequences are much less severe now than they were in the past. There is no report of this. Compared to earlier times, far fewer individuals are killed now. Natural catastrophes do not happen less frequently, but since we are better prepared, fewer people die in them. Plane disasters, homicides, nuclear spills, and terrorism are some of the less frequent incidents that frighten us the most. Less than 1% of deaths per year are caused by these incidents. 40 million commercial passenger flights touched down in 2016. Ten of these resulted in deadly collisions. However, journalists will only cover those ten.

The Size Instinct

We have a propensity to overvalue particular people or situations. The authors give an illustration of how people frequently blame advancements in hospitals and doctors for decreases in child mortality. We see fewer infant deaths as more lives saved by doctors. The information would indicate that preventative actions taken outside of hospitals are responsible for almost all of the increases in child survival rates.

Humans enjoy creating a story out of isolated data points. This inclination is used by the media, which will exaggerate the significance of one particular event or statistic. Giving the incident or truth context is crucial for overcoming the size instinct. By comparing this incident to other cases, you can create context.

Furthermore, we frequently give a huge number more significance if we are given it. This is a result of our inability to comprehend really huge numbers. Therefore, you should always divide the sum by another number to give the number additional context. For instance, if you divide by the entire population, the new number now applies to one individual.

Get objects in their proper proportions and look for analogies to limit your size instinct.

The Destiny Instinct

We have a tendency to believe that people, nations, religions, or cultures are destined to be a specific way because of this impulse. Our comprehension of innate traits serves as the foundation for this inclination. When we base our judgements of people on these inherent traits, we come to believe that nothing will ever change.

The fate instinct makes sense from an evolutionary perspective as well. We used to live in an environment where seasonal fluctuations were the only constants. One of the few methods to bring a group together was to associate them with destiny. However, societies nowadays are different. We may connect over a wide range of situations and constantly shifting environments.

Furthermore, we must keep in mind that change is frequently gradual. Things could seem predetermined, but this is only because we have a hard time noticing even the smallest changes. Cultures and societies are constantly changing. Therefore, make an effort to monitor progress over time. Try to consider your parents’ or grandparents’ perspectives if you find it difficult to comprehend how things evolve with time. Most likely, you’ll notice a significant difference, which is the result of subtle, incremental modifications.

Remember that slow change is still change in order to tame the Destiny Instinct.

The Generalization Instinct

Individual data points are automatically generalised by people. Stereotypes help us organise our ideas and are generally extremely helpful. This tendency, though, has the potential to distort how we see the world.

First off, when we tend to generalise, we could unintentionally lump together things that are quite unlike, like two distinct countries.

Second, this impulse could lead us to think that people belonging to the same category are all the same or quite similar. This is what underlies problems like racial bias by causing us to draw inferences about a whole category based on one example.

You can overcome this inclination by exploring different environments and meeting new individuals. You will realise that we are all unique if you visit new places and their actual residences. The website for Anna’s Dollar Street makes note of this. People with the same income will have various cultural backgrounds and family structures.

You should challenge your categorizations in order to regulate the Generalization Instinct.

The Single Perspective Instinct

We always adopt or take into account a single perspective, never adopting or taking into account many perspectives. We feel that our problems are simpler to tackle when we concentrate on a single cause. But this results in a distorted view of reality. If we take into account several viewpoints and determine which has the greatest veracity, we will have a more accurate understanding of issues.

You should constantly be testing ideas to determine where they fall short in order to overcome the single perspective instinct. If fresh information is presented that contradicts your current beliefs, you shouldn’t ignore it. Instead, take an interest in this new information and consider whether your original thoughts need to be modified in light of it.

Additionally, you should make an effort to connect with people who think differently than you. Your ability to understand the world will be greatly enhanced by having these folks in your life.

The authors also exhort you to occasionally look beyond numbers. Data does have its limitations, and while looking for solutions, practical proof of concepts may be required. Because the world is complex, so should our issues and solutions.

Instead of merely a hammer, you should buy a toolbox to control the Single Perspective Instinct. Everything appears like a nail to a hammer.

The Blame Instinct

Our inclination to assign blame stems from our desire to understand why something negative occurred. We frequently blame unfavourable events on evil actors or their motives. Another instance of people looking for patterns is this. We look for an explanation as to why something occurred. Our response to the uncertain, perplexing, and frightening aspect of the world is the blame instinct.

We overestimate the role that particular people or groups played in unfortunate occurrences, which is one of the most important problems with our propensity to place blame. This prevents us from looking for more solid causes of the problem or fixes. In actuality, the majority of unpleasant situations are the result of numerous interacting causes.

The system is what the authors refer to. Therefore, rather than focusing on specific individuals or groups, we ought to consider systems.

You should be able to spot when a scapegoat is being used and refrain from employing them yourself if you want to manage your Blame Instinct. Additionally, you ought to focus on systems rather than heroes and villains.

The Urgency Instinct

The need to respond immediately when we sense a threat is known as the urgency instinct. The problem with this tendency is that it stresses us out. Our natural impulses are amplified by stress, and it prevents us from thinking critically. Finally, when we are stressed, we end up doing things that we would never normally do.

We should cooperate to find solutions to some important issues. Global pandemics, financial meltdowns, conflicts, climate change, and extreme poverty are some of these. If the issue does not fit into one of these categories, urgency will merely skew your decisions.

Giving yourself extra time and information can help you overcome your inclination toward urgency. Be cautious when thinking about projections as well.

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