《事实》数据思考：避免情绪决策

During my studies, I came across a book called "Factfulness". This book helped me understand that we cannot use a single perspective to view the world. "Factfulness" presents four key improvements: reducing anxiety and becoming more optimistic, improving our rationality, discovering potential business opportunities, and making effective decisions. The book also highlights ten common pitfalls to avoid: binary thinking, negative thinking, linear thinking, instinctive fear, scale distortion, generalization, destiny misconceptions, single perspectives, blaming others, and acting impulsively.

The author of "Factfulness", Hans Rosling, is not only a great writer, but also an outstanding sociologist who has dedicated his life to revealing the truth about the world through real data. In 1997, as a lecturer in Karolinska Institute, he noticed that many students had serious misunderstandings about the world and made emotional decisions. He then gave a TED talk, using dynamic data and graphics to vividly demonstrate the real changes that the world was undergoing in areas such as population, economy, and environment. Years later, Rosling decided to write a book on his life-long ideas and methods for thinking about the world.

In "Factfulness", the author uses questionnaires to show readers the changes in different regions and compares the number of newborns per woman in developing and developed countries using tables and charts. The book reminds us not to unconsciously group disparate things into one category, as this can create a false mental model in our minds.

For example, a Swedish female intern got her leg stuck in an elevator in India because she assumed that the elevator would open automatically as it did in Sweden. She had generalized her experience from Sweden to India, leading to her accident. This illustrates that we shouldnt bring our previous experiences into unfamiliar fields.

To truly understand the world, we must learn to think with data and avoid making decisions based purely on emotions. Using data to comprehend the global market has become a part of our culture. But if people maintain a wrong worldview and only see partial or inaccurate data or even no data, they will be misled. If people had not taken the global knowledge test one day, they would never have known their understanding of the world was wrong.

Often we dont truly understand a person and just rely solely on our intuition or other peoples opinions to form judgments. We evaluate whether someone is good or bad and decide whether to have a relationship with them or to keep a distance, based solely on emotions. This way of looking at people and making judgments, without any theoretical basis, is often incorrect. We need to rely on "Facts" to guide our thoughts and actions.

Reading "Factfulness" has broadened my horizons. And it has given me a deeper understanding of this ever-changing world. We must evaluate "Truth" objectively and with care to make informed judgments.