Spur of the Moment Guide to FACTFULNESS: WEEK 11

p. 65 – 70

Here the author talks about the negativity instinct. He argues that people usually misremember the past. They tend to think things were better when they were children than now when in fact, if they look at the data, they are going to see how much worse it used to be.

I am not going to go into detail cause that’s what the book is about. I am also not going to offer any arguments against this view. But I am going to mention a potential usefulness of this misremembering.

What if people don’t really misremember their past, but the brain focuses more on the future? That is what if based on the current data people have— what they see around them, what they see outside of their small environment, what they have and what they need—they perform a quick analysis, almost unconsciously, and they determine that, despite the progress that has taken place, the way the things are going their future is in potential danger.

So this tendency to negativity isn’t something we have to get rid of but is something we need to be aware of.

The negativity instinct could be serving a dual purpose. First, warning us about potential dangers that are lurking waiting for the right moment, and second, keeping us from being too comfortable with what we already have, which could potentially keep us away from further progress.

The more aware we are of the benefits of the negativity instinct may have to offer us, the better able we’ll be to use it to our advantage, instead of letting it put us down, causing depression and stress without us even realizing it sometimes.
The same could be said about selective reporting. It can be used to bring our attention to potential problems.

Awareness is good. It can also, of course, create stress along with that false perception that things are getting worse which the author is trying to change. But the more knowledgeable we are the better chance we have of handling these negative data and using it to get the knowledge while minimizing the pessimism.

Knowledge alone doesn’t seem to be enough though. We need a framework of knowledge and thinking. For example, someone may be aware that corruption in government results in suboptimal results which affect the whole of society. What can that person do with that knowledge? A simple answer would be if they are aware a certain politician is corrupt then they don’t support that politician.

The problem is the answers are never simple nor the knowledge so clear-cut.

The author’s words under the title: “Feeling, Not Thinking” on pages 68-70 are truly worth reading. Here are a couple of quotes (which are better read in context I’m afraid):

“But it is just as ridiculous, and just as stressful, to look away from the progress that has been made.”

“The loss of hope is probably the most devastating consequence of the negativity instinct and the ignorance it causes.”

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