Feldman's Faves: November 28, 2022

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE

This weekend I knocked another item off my bucket list on my “Middle Aged Madness Tour 2022 (Jon’s Version)” by going to the Iron Bowl. For those of you who are fans of college football (or even if you are not) I highly recommend going to see Alabama play in Alabama at least once in your life, as it truly is a religious experience. Pictures are available but you would first have to sign an NDA….

A HUGE congratulations to Julian and Randy for making partner last week. I am so happy for you both and wish you continued success.

I also want to wish our friend and mentor, Matt Prager a very happy birthday.

After last week’s “metaphysical journey” I decided to stick to more “plain speaking” and more easily digestible works this time around.

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—And Why Things Are Better Than You Think By: Hans Rosling – I am of two minds when it comes to this book. On the one hand, Rosling makes a very good (and obvious) point that today is the best time to be alive throughout all of human history. Science, innovation and progress in so many fields have made all of our lives in every part of the world better than it has ever been. At the same time, this “big picture” view of the world and of history fails to address the issues that so many people face at the micro level (disease, poverty, war, etc.) as well as the larger issues that we have never had to face until now (i.e., climate change). Factfulness, as its title suggests looks at facts (actually data) and argues that all that we see in the news is the bad stuff but the good stuff that is happening to improve life for all of humanity is less interesting and not newsworthy per se, but far more impactful on all of us. Think of the global reduction of infant mortality, the rise of life expectancy and the lesser frequency of all-out war as examples of this progress. As one reviewer notes, “If you’ve turned on a TV or read a newspaper in the last two decades or so, you’d have a pretty grim picture of the world. Terrorism. Extreme poverty. Deadly epidemics. And it’s getting worse all the time. But this view is completely wrong. Not only are things much better than we think—they’re better than they’ve ever been. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—And Why Things Are Better Than You Think explores our misconceptions about the world by identifying ten instincts that mistakenly lead us to embrace an over-dramatic, stereotyped, inflexible, and unduly pessimistic view of the world. For each instinct, the book explores real-world examples of how they manifest, why we believe in them, their harmful impact, and how we can apply factfulness to overcome them. At the end of this summary, we hope you’ll have swapped out your dramatic worldview for a factful one: informed by data, relentlessly eager to absorb new information, and always questioning conventional wisdom. The Gap Instinct - This is our tendency to divide the world into binary groups (like rich vs. poor countries, developed world vs. undeveloped world). In reality, there is a vast and highly differentiated middle-class of countries, which is where most of the world’s population lives. The Gap Instinct makes us see the world as being more fractured than it really is and inhibits international collaboration. To overcome the Gap Instinct, avoid comparing simple averages, don’t draw too much from extreme examples of wealth or poverty, and check how your own biases might be leading you to false conclusions. The Negativity Instinct - This is the belief that the world is bad and getting worse. The instinct is false—the world is safer and richer than it’s ever been and it’s improving all the time. When we buy into the Negativity Instinct, we come to either embrace radical and drastic solutions or give in to hopelessness and despair (the latter of which encourages inaction). To avoid this, learn to expect disproportionately bad news, accept that things can be both objectively bad and still improving, and sharpen your knowledge of the past to gain a better perspective on the present. The Straight Line Instinct - This is when we wrongly believe that trends will continue at the same rate and in the same direction forever. It results in both unnecessary panic (for example, about the sustainability of the world’s population) and the ignoring of problems that do require attention (like not helping impoverished people out of fear of contributing to population growth). To beat the instinct, increase your basic quantitative knowledge: not all statistical curves are straight lines, and you might only be seeing one small part of a larger trend. The Fear Instinct - This is our instinct to greatly overstate the likelihood of harm coming to us based on what we read and see in the news.” The data show that life is better in aggregate for sure, but of course as we lawyers all know, the devil is in the details and in the specific circumstances of specific people. Regardless, this analysis does provide a “half full” view of the world that is somewhat encouraging for those of us who are news junkies. Here is a good review from Gates Notes - https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Factfulness

BODY STUFF WITH DR. JEN GUNTER - How your sense of smell helps you savor flavor –This very short PODCAST asks the simple question: if you had to give up one of your senses, which one would it be? Apparently, when asked, the vast majority of people say smell, and I get that. But before you give it up so quickly listen to what Dr. Gunter has to say about its importance to the quality of our lives (you still may pick smell in any case)… .Here’s an excerpt from the PODCAST itself, “Eating pizza with a stuffy nose just isn't as satisfying -- and there's a reason for that. Dr. Jen Gunter explains how our ability to smell and taste work together to give us a full sensory experience. So whether you're sniffing the caramelized aroma of coffee, a whiff of trash or a trillion other things, your brain knows exactly what's under your nose.”: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ted-talks-daily/id160904630?i=1000583197031

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation.

And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon