![]() ![]() Right now, the world looks a mighty dangerous and fragile place, but in truth, it’s a lot better than it was. Almost totally ignored in the hysteria is that tornadoes today are a lot less deadly than they used to be, thanks to advanced warning systems. Through the tyranny of the 24-hour news agenda this will be whipped up into a major event that portends a series of similar catastrophes. Gates cites the example of a tornado that kills 10 people in a small town. ![]() Our problem, Rosling argues, is that we don’t know what we don’t know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious biases. ![]() If we look at the facts, rather than our prejudices, we find that for all the world’s imperfections and setbacks, things are in much better shape than we imagine. In an age of so-called post-truth, this is a celebration of the all too often repudiated but underlying story of relentless human progress. Where better to start than a new book by one of Gates’ favourite gurus, the late Swedish statistician Hans Rosling – Factfulness: 10 Reasons We’re Wrong About the World, and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. ![]() We need more of this way of thinking, both in business and politics. This is very much a Silicon Valley way of looking at the world – that there is almost no problem, other perhaps than the inevitability of death, that technology cannot ultimately solve. Instead, Gates ascribes to the much more practical philosophy that with application, everything can be improved continued incremental progress is much more likely than the reverse, he believes. ![]()
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