UnMind
Random observations, thoughts and ideas about art, travel, environment, politics, humanity. Named after one of my blogs, UnMind.net.
I recently came across Legatum Institute’s Prosperity Index for 2012, in which they rank 148 countries along 8 different factors:
- Economy
- Entrepreneurship & Opportunity
- Governance
- Education
- Health
- Safety & Security
- Personal Freedom
- Social Capital
In this latest ranking, the top 10 countries in descending order are:
- Norway
- Denmark
- Sweden
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Canada
- Finland
- Netherlands
- Switzerland
- Ireland
As you can see there is a concentration of the Scandinavian countries at the top. USA has ranked 12 overall. But it is notable that in economy and safety & security it has ranked 20 and 27 respectively. Its highest rank is in health at #2, which is a surprise. Perhaps they didn’t quite consider the high cost of healthcare in USA.
It’s interesting that the emerging powers such as China and India rank quite a bit lower. For example China’s rank is 55, Russia is 66 and India surprisingly only ranks 101, next to Iran at 102! And naturally troubled countries such as Iraq (131) and Afghanistan (140) are further down in the list.
Whenever I see such rankings I always ask what the methodology is. Based on how you measure the results can be quite different. Legatum publishes detailed info about its methodology.
Furthermore, the default ranking is based on an equal weight for the 8 factors. What is cool about this ranking and its web UI is that you can change the weights for each factor on the fly and see the result all interactively. For example if you think that education and health should weigh more than Governance, then you can reflect that in the chart and see how that impacts the ranking.
Legatum Institute is a UK based independent non-partisan organization that conducts research in public policy.
A talk about injustice and the orientation of the spirit
Here is a great inspiring TED talk by Bryan Stevenson, a human rights lawyer about the criminal justice system in the US and the need for us all to get to that “orientation of the spirit” so we care, have compassion, and do something about the injustice and sufferings of the un- and under- privileged in our communities and ultimately in our world. I think everything should listen, take it to heart and act on it. Here are a few excerpts:
“This country is very different today than it was 40 years ago. In 1972 there were 300,000 people in jails and prisons. Today, there are 2.3 million. US now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. We have 7 million people on probation and parole…One out of three black men between the ages of 18 and 30 is in jail, in prison, on probation or parole. In urban communities across this country — LA, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington — 50 to 60 percent of all men of color are in jail or prison, on probation or parole.”
“There is no disconnect around technology and design that will allow us to be fully human until we pay attention to suffering, to poverty, to exclusion, to unfairness, to injustice. Now I will warn you that this kind of identity is a much more challenging identity than ones that don’t pay attention to this. It will get you.”
“…the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice. That we cannot be full evolved human beings until we care about human rights and basic dignity. That all of our survival is tied to the survival of everyone. That our visions of technology and design and entertainment and creativity have to be married with visions of humanity, compassion and justice. And more than anything, for those of you who share that, I’ve simply come to tell you to keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.”
(Source: ted.com)
I came across this remarkable TED talk by Shawn Achor, CEO of Good Think Inc, about positive psychology, happiness and success, and how we often get this wrong in personal and professional live. It’s a great talk that everyone should listen to more than once, as there is great insight in it, besides being very funny.
Here are a few factoids that I transcribe from his talk and also tweeted at @farshidk:
- 90% of your long-term happiness is determined not by your external world, but by how your brain processes the world!
- 25% of job success is predicted by IQ; 75% by your optimism level, your social support, and your ability to see stress as a challenge instead of threat!
- Our general formula for success & happiness that governs our parenting and managing styles is: if I work harder I’ll be more successful, and if I am more successful then I’ll be happier. This is broken and scientifically backward, because every time your brain has a success you just change the goal post of what success looks like; e.g. you got good grades, now you have to get better grades; you got a good job, now you have to get a better job.
- The problem is that our brains work in the opposite order. If you can raise somebody’s level of positivity in the present, then their brain experience “happiness advantage” — if your brain is positive, it performs 31% better than if it is negative, neutral or stressed; your intelligence, creativity and your energy level rise. Every business outcome improves. So we need to reverse this formula — be positive as present so we are more successful and happier later on. Dopamine which floods the system when we are positive: not only it makes us happier, it turns on all the learning centers in the brain.
- There are ways to train your brain to become more positive. With 2 minute exercises done for 21 days in a row, you can rewire your brain! 3 Gratitudes a day new things each day, journaling one positive experience a day, exercise, meditation, and random acts of kindness.
I am going to give this a try and see what transpires.
Woody Allen on Life, Happiness and Love
I came across excerpts of an interview with Woody Allen about his film, “Midnight in Paris” for which he just won an Oscar for the best original screenplay. He expresses his views about life, happiness and love, which is a must for everyone to hear. His brutal honesty along with his apparent awkward body language is what makes him so comical. He’s an original. Here are some excerpts which I have transcribed from the video:
“I am not happy that I’m here but I wouldn’t be happy there either, because I am not happy in general. So whenever I lived I would be unhappy. Life itself is a very unhappy experience. So it really doesn’t matter when you lived. The cosmetics change but the problems remain the same…”
And on love he says:
“That is a commercial cliche. I don’t think love is the answer to all the problems at all. Love is a nice part of life; it’s one part of life. So is baseball; so is BBQ chicken…Love is one of the nice distractions from the brutality of life. But it certainly doesn’t answer all the questions or many of them even…But in movies and fiction, when you say love is the answer and love will conquer all, people like to hear that. So they buy tickets.”
On Iranian Jews and the Tension between Iran & Israel
I came across this short but precious New York Times opinion piece, “What Two Enemies Share“ by the Iranian-Jewish author, Roya Hakakian, about the history of Jews in Iran and the cultural and historical ties between Iran & Israel. It is a must read for all those on both sides. It is her answer to the question that whose side will she be on if a war breaks out between Iran and Israel. Here is an excerpt:
“By bombing Iran, Israel would be bombing a portion of Jewish history. If that happens, which side I would choose will not be a question. I will be twice destroyed by the two imperfect yet beloved cultures that each make up half of the woman I am.”
Enough said.
Obama’s signing of the NDAA into law
Early in January 2012 President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act, a $662 B military spending bill, which under the excuse of fight against terrorism empowers the US military to arrest any US citizen even in US without trial and detain indefinitely. DemocracyNow sums it up nicely. Forbes in this piece by Erik Kain has more detailed discussion of it, the history of anti-terrorism and how dangerous it is for our civil liberties. According to Forbes, Obama is quoted saying:
The fact that I support this bill as a whole does not mean I agree with everything in it…I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists.
Really? Why in the world did he sign it then?!! Obviously he thinks it was wrong. But somehow he succumbed to other powers and influencers. Is he being manipulated? Is he afraid? Is this for the sake of upcoming elections? Whatever the reason, signing this into law was wrong.
The Forbes article also talks about the fact that “you can wage a war on an idea”. Unlike say cold war which was against the now defunct USSR, terrorism is not a state or a people, but rather a form. The piece also looks at option on how people can fight against this law.
63 years ago, today UN created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Dec. 10 is the Human Rights day, an occasion that is more relevant today perhaps than any other time in the recent years. 2010 has certainly been an amazing year around the world as several dictatorships in Africa and Middle East have fallen. We’ve even witnessed the Occupy movement in USA and Europe against economic and social inequality, high unemployment and corruption and greed in our financial institutions and among our politicians, as well as the influence of large corporations on the government. This is all work in progress.
Those movements have just scratched the surface and in some cases have not resulted in much positive change. There is still a lot of trouble around the world. There are 100s of millions of people who under dictator regimes or cruel military and security forces are denied human rights, right to freely express their views, practice their believes and religions, elect their officials, and live free lives.
Appropriately UN has called to build momentum to promote human rights everywhere. Human rights promotion is not exactly a popular view in US as many believe they live in a relatively democratic society and I suppose this time of the year most are pre-occupied with their Christmas shopping than anything else. Google that reaches billions of people around the world, could have helped promote this day by a doodle, as they do on many other occasions. Unfortunately they did not acknowledge this important occasion. Let’s help promote it. Much work remains to be done.
If you haven’t seen the video of criminal inhuman cops at Univ of California, Davis pepper spraying innocent students protesting #OccupyWallstreet from such close distance, you should see it. Be warned that it is violent and painful to watch. The cops must be apprehended and sent to prison. Suspension and administrative leave is NOT enough punishment.
We’d like to think that we live in a democracy of sorts; not in a dictatorship or military state like some others in our planet. Sadly in the recent years there is plenty of evidence that our social welfare and democracy has been in decay, and there is more awareness that perhaps we’re not exactly in the top of the list of democratic and socially advanced societies.
At times like this when you see and hear about such police brutality, and knowing that there are 1 million people incarcerated in USA, it feel like we live in a military state. Violent and cruel show of force towards innocent people, especially on the sacred grounds of a university campus, and against students is sick and should not be tolerated. You can see the video and images at the referenced article.
Economic inequality harms societies and USA in many ways
This TED talk by Richard Wilkinson, a public health researcher, co-author of The Spirit Level, and co-founder of The Equality Trust, a non-profit aiming to reduce income inequality, provides compelling research data on how income inequality within advanced and democratic countries such as USA damage societies along many dimensions:
- Life expectancy
- Math and literacy
- Infant mortality
- Homicides
- Imprisonment
- Teenage births
- Trust
- Obesity
- Mental illness (includes drug & alcohol addiction)
- Social mobility
On each of these social attributes, countries with more income inequality (e.g. USA, UK, Portugal) do worse than those with less income inequality (e.g. Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Sweden, and Japan).
Sadly, USA scores worst time and again on most of the items above. In fact US is often off the chart compared to other countries! As Wilkinson says, “if Americans want to live the American dream, they should go to Denmark!” It is a 15 minute must-see talk.
“It’s called the American dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it!” The original stand-up comedian and more importantly the visionary American social critique, George Carlin, would be all for “Occupy Wall Street” if he were alive. This is a great clip from him that MoveOn.org shared today, that every American needs to see. Carlin was well ahead of his time. He saw through it. He says:
“…You have no choice; you have owners…The owners of this country don’t want smart people capable of critical thinking…they want obedient workers…people who are smart enough to operate the machines and do the paperwork, and dumb enough to accept all these increasingly shittier jobs…Now they want your social security money to give it to their criminal friends in Wall Street…It is a big club and you ain’t in it…They’re telling you what to believe, what to think, what to buy…The table is tilted, the game is rigged but nobody seems to notice, no body seems to care. And that’s what the owners count on, the fact that Americans will remain willfully ignorant…Because the owners of this country know the truth. It’s called “the American dream” — you have to be asleep to believe it.”
