Tom Swerts's Key Ideas from Factfulness
by Hans Rosling

Summary

The tendency to believe that things will continue as they have before.

Factfulness

Acknowledge that many things will change over time and pay attention to data that may protect you from falsely believing that some aspect of your life will continue as it has before.

Summary

The tendency to pay more attention to “frightening” things.

Factfulness

• Risks should be calculated, not avoided. There is no way to eliminate risk without negating opportunity. In the same way, if we let our fear steer us we will miss many positive due to miscalculating situations.
• Unbalanced, fear can lead to panic, and panic only increases risk. Don’t allow fear or scary things to overwhelm your perspective, and recognize if you are afraid and factor that into your calculations of how you act.

Summary

The tendency to perceive things out of proportion (especially when isolated numbers seem impressive).

Factfulness

There are two critical tools for properly contextualizing your perception: Comparing and Dividing. Compare your data and numbers with different numbers, data, and sources to gain a more accurate approximation. Dividing allows you to examine rates and ratios, and rates are often more meaningful, especially when comparing groups of different size or scale.

Summary

The tendency to generalize by categories.

Factfulness

Cultivate a habit of questioning your categories and noticing differences that can provide data for a new and refined understanding of things and groups.

Summary

The tendency to believe that (much like the Straight Line Instinct) that seemingly innate and past characteristics determine the “destiny” of people, things, groups, institutions, or cultures and that they will remain the same.

Factfulness:

• If things seem like they’re not changing fast enough, the same rules from the Size Instinct apply: Comparing and divide
• Talk to Grandpa - Simply asking about what things were like only two generations ago will surprise you with how much change is felt.
• Update your knowledge - Some information changes more quickly than others.

Summary

The tendency to prefer simple explanations and solutions and miss differing perspectives, angles and complexities.

Factfulness

Factfulness involves recognizing that we cannot develop the best perspective without accounting for others. Our ideas should be tested and refined but different angles, data, and opinions.

Summary

The tendency to seek simple and clear reasons for why a bad thing occurs.

Factfulness:

• Look for causes, not villains - When things go amiss, it’s almost always symptomatic of more complex issues than any one individual. Recognize that bad things occur always, and that your energy is best directed towards solving the deeper, intricate and interacting reasons underneath the surface.
• Look for systems, not heroes - When something consistently works well, it is often because there is a system supporting and facilitating individuals more than any one person’s heroics.

Summary

The tendency to take immediate actions in response to perceived danger or threats, and in doing so, amplify our other instincts.

Factfulness

Urgency can be helpful, but it can also amplify all of our other biases, instincts, and reactions and lead us to make mistakes in panic. When urgency clouds your thinking, take a deep breath, examine the data, think analytically, and beware of predictions that fail to account for uncertainty and complexity.