Ignorance is not bliss

"I believe in innovation and that the way you get innovation is you fund research and you learn the basic facts." - Bill Gates

How ignorant are we? According to "Perils of Perception", a survey by the Ipsos Mori Social Research Institute taken between August 12 and August 26, 2014, we are quite ignorant. When asked to estimate basic facts about population and social issues like immigration, aging, and unemployment, over 11,000 adults in 14 democratic countries generally got the answers badly wrong.
    Here is an overview of the questions Canadians were asked: What percent of our population is Muslim, Christian, immigrants from another country? Of eligible voters, what percent voted in the last election? What percent is unemployed and looking for work, and what percent is 65 or older? Is our crime rate rising or falling, and finally, what percent of Canadian girls between the age of 15 and 19 give birth each year?
    Canadians were the seventh most ignorant, Italy most (14th), Sweden least, and the USA was 13th. What are the actual numbers in Canada compared with what we believe? Two percent of the Canadian population is Muslim; the average Joe guessed 20 percent. Sixty-nine percent are Christian; the average Joe guessed 49 percent. Twenty-one percent are immigrants; Joe guessed 35. Sixty-one percent of eligible voters voted in the last federal election; Joe guessed 51. Fourteen percent are 65 or older; Joe guessed 40. Seven percent are unemployed and looking for work; Joe guessed 23. One percent of teenage girls give birth in any given year; Joe guessed 15. Finally, crime rate has dropped for the past 23 years while Joe's convinced it is going up. The average Joe is dramatically wrong.
    Ignorance isn't bliss, it's dangerous, and becoming more so. In 2010 the Canadian government ended the mandatory long-form census. In its wisdom, the government also placed restrictions on Federal scientists to freely disseminate information, and severely cut or eliminated critical data gathering agencies in the country. As a result, we are, individually and as a nation, destined to become less well informed, and therefore, more ignorant.
    It is impossible to make good governmental decisions without data, and good data doesn't come from uncle Bob or the latest tirade from your favourite talk radio host. It comes from hard, cold, scientific research that is replicated and confirmed by other scientists everywhere. If such replication and confirmation is not forthcoming the data is discounted.
    Without reliable census data, and forced to rely only on public opinion as reflected in the Ipsos Mori survey, the government is liable to make serious mistakes. For example, if they believe that 15 percent of teenage girls get pregnant when it is really only 1 percent they could unnecessarily spend millions on programs directed at teenagers about abstinence and condoms. Similarly, as misplaced concern about immigration reaches epidemic proportions, the government—with no hard data to dispute it—will make incredibly dumb and harmful decisions. And despite the decline in actual crime rates we may continue to waste money pursuing a boogey man who doesn't exist.
    There are other examples of havoc that could befall us if politicians rely on an uninformed public or their own personal biases to sway policy decisions. The 2015 Climate Change Performance Index ranks Canada second worst (58th) when it comes to climate change issues. Our poor showing is not surprising considering: (1) the government's disdain for facts about climate change, and (2) its muzzling of Federal scientists and scientific agencies.
    Surely we can be a prosperous oil producing country and at the same time make every effort to comply with efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. The way it is now we're embarrassing ourselves by placing state controls on science and scientific information dissemination. Our denial of environmental issues is similar to North Korea's denial that it bans the internet and Russia's denial that it's tampering with Ukraine sovereignty. Canada can't be one of those countries that fears and hides the truth. Our enemies do that. Changing or hiding the data doesn't change reality, it makes it difficult to adjust to reality.
    Data provides information, information gives us reliable knowledge, and knowledge eventually leads to wisdom. But data is the foundation. Without data, without the highly trained men and women whose research ferrets out the data, we're lost, eventually forced to make decisions without facts. You wouldn't drive while blindfolded, nor would you fly to a busy airport without radar and air traffic control. Seek factual data, make it available, don't fear it, and live well between your ears.
For more, go to Amazon.com and search for Live well between your ears.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda

                                                     "Carpe Diem"- Horace, 68 BC

According to a 2009 report by the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford, England, Horace actually said, "pluck the day, putting as little trust in tomorrow as possible!" The translation that has stuck over all these years is "seize the day."
    Seizing the day and avoiding regret are intimately related. At some point we have all wanted to seize the day and we have all experienced regret, either for an act we have done or one we haven't. Gilovich and Medvec (1995) report we are more likely to regret not seizing the moment—not taking action—versus regretting something that we did. While we may regret actions in the immediate aftermath, in the long run it is our inaction (what we didn't do) that we will likely live to regret.
    The phrase Carpe Diem comes to mind when we realize that there is no time like the present to take action. This simple advice came to my mind recently when, during a 10 day vacation, one friend died, another had urgent surgery to remove a tumor, and I learned a third has something going wrong in his kidney that has all his Doctors baffled. On top of that, me—Mr. I-don't-go-to-the-Doctor—was given unambiguous instructions by my daughter-in-law, a radiation therapist who works in a cancer clinic, to get the annoying little sore on the top of my head looked after now!
    Driving home after all this news, I had plenty of time to reflect. I enjoyed my drive, marvelled at the scenery, sang in the car, stayed positive and thought: Carpe Diem. So I seized the day and took action.
    I'd already missed the funeral, but I contacted the family. I went to visit my friend in the hospital as soon as I got home, and I visited the person with the kidney mystery. I also went to see the nurse practitioner when I returned to the land of free healthcare and she burned away the scaly little sore on the top of my head. I hope it stays away.
    In addition to that, I decided to drive to Toronto (5400 km round trip) to see my 8 year old grandson play in a hockey tournament. I'll pick up him and my son in Chicago and we'll go together. Normally, I might not have done that since I just returned from logging 5500 km. back and forth to Chicago. But—Carpe Diem—I may not get another opportunity.
    Few of us plan to get sick or die. But it happens, often unexpectedly. Armed with that knowledge, I don't have one good reason for not going to Toronto to watch my skilled little grandson work his magic on the ice. We've all experienced regret when we didn't do something we should have done. I've said for years, "Don't die wishin'."
    What reasons do you have to seize the day? Nearly one quarter of Brits in the Oxford study wished they had seized a different career opportunity. A quarter also regretted not making new friends. Twenty-five percent said they hadn't done anything different in over a year, and over fifteen percent of them said it was so long ago they couldn't remember. Fifty percent of them want to change their exercise regime and diet, but they don't. Over fifty percent want to explore new places or countries. Over forty percent want to re-connect with old friends, and almost forty percent want to learn a new skill. Hmmm, opportunities to Carpe Diem are all over the place.
Some of the top regrets in the Gilovich and Medvec study were not taking their education more seriously, not being more assertive, not taking more risks, and not spending more time with family.
    These are all reminders that our time to act is limited. They are also reminders that our biggest regrets are tied to inaction. So, redouble your effort to live without regret. Don't die wishin'. Don't miss doing what is important. Avoid shoulda, woulda, coulda, and live well between your ears.
    For a compilation of my earlier columns go to www.Amazon.com, www.nookbooks.com, or www.Friesenpress.com, and search for my book, Live Well Between Your Ears. You can also click on the Buy Now tab on the right.

War and more war

"I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion."
Alexander the Great

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."
Sun Tzu

It is August 28, 2014 and more than ever we're witnessing something very important. It is particularly interesting because the stakes are so high. If we don't get the middle-east situation right, the enemy seems likely to make life very bad for a long time in many regions of the world.
    The very important question is what can be done about the insane, violence-on-steroids brand of terrorism? The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and whomever they morph into tomorrow, as well as other ruthless offshoots of Al-Qaeda, pose a serious problem.
You can't reason with people who are bat-crap-frickin'crazy. In the name of some bastardized version of Islam that they make up as they go along, they'll do anything to anybody. It isn't Islam any more than I'm the Pope. There isn't an Imam worth his salt who concurs with their tactics, their message, or anything else about them.
    Since they are immune to reason, we have no alternative but to have every sane nation commit their money and their military, join forces, and pound the bejeezus out of them. It is how the Allies defeated Hitler and it will take nothing less here. That's what many want to do but perhaps it is more complicated and requires a less emotional approach.
    The problem is the bad guys have this home-spun ideology. If we pound the crap out of them, legions of dumb-as-a-brick believers (they are also certifiably sociopathic) will run and hide, recruit some others and come back later, fueled by what they believe was an attack on their faith.
    Let's be clear, to attack the likes of ISIS is not an attack on faith. It is an attack on stupidity and the terror it spawns. No faith in the world advocates such unreasoned violence. Yes, the Christian's had their crusades against Muslims. My only response to that is what our mothers told us: "Two wrongs don't make a right."
    One thing is sure: one country can't win this struggle by itself. There has to be wide support from other western and middle-eastern nations. Without multi-national participation it could be wrongly perceived as an attack on Islam rather than what it really is: an attack on an immoral bunch of guys running amok.
    So what's the answer? Four suggestions compete for the honour of being least wrong. One is to muddle along, have as much dialogue as possible, and see where it goes. No one seems to know what the outcome of that would be because the issue is, as they say, "so fluid."
A second is to leave them alone and let them kill each other off. This sounds attractive, but these loons would never stop, and the killing would spread. To ignore them and let them fight it out is like having Ebola in your midst and doing nothing.
    Third, as George W. famously said, we can wage war against the enemy with a coalition of the willing like the Allies did against Hitler's Germany, Italy and Japan. This solution, by itself, rarely works as expected when battling groups of terrorists because there are too many moving parts. Research and history tell us that single mode strategies are liable to back fire as they did in Viet Nam and Iraq. The "turn-them-to-dust" approaches often take us in unanticipated directions.
    Fourth, depending on who you listen to, is some combination of the above. Combining the first (muddling dialogue), and the third (strategic military attacks from a diverse coalition) might be best. It needs to include a highly targeted dirty war by as many nations as possible against the common enemy where ever it is. It would mean fighting their kind of war; the unpredictable and ruthless kind with lots of black ops and special forces guys. If all the sane nations committed to it, it would bring pressure on the middle-east and other nations to pony up and put their military and their money where their mouth is.
    The muddling along part of this fourth option needs mountains of credible counter propaganda from Muslim countries and Muslim spokesmen directed against the enemy's make believe ideology in order to discredit and dissuade its followers. It also requires unprecedented communication, cooperation and commitment.
    Hopefully the many people and nations who are working on this problem come up with effective solutions. It is definitely important and needs to be satisfactorily resolved so we can continue to live well between our ears.
    For a compilation of 110 of my earlier columns go to www.friesenpress.com, www.amazon.com, or www.nookbooks.com and search for my book Live Well Between Your Ears.

Happiness Hints

"There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way." Thich Nhat Hahn – Buddhist teacher

For the past couple of decades research on positive psychology has flourished. Many studies have shown that much of what we thought was true about happiness, isn't. For example, once basic needs are met, money has no impact on happiness. Warm weather makes you feel good but adds nothing to sustained happiness. Lottery winners do not stay happier for much longer than 3 months before they return to their pre-windfall level of happiness. Another person cannot make you happy for long. People who become paraplegic due to an accident return to their baseline level of happiness after six months. And, not until you have two major illnesses at the same time does happiness begin to decline.
    So, if happiness is not improved with blue skies, white sand beaches, health, vibrancy, the right partner, and even the lottery, what does bring more happiness?
    Tal Ben-Shahar (2009), a psychologist at Harvard University, discussed four ways to increase happiness: (1) Give ourselves permission to experience the full range of emotions. (2) Manage stress. (3) Meditate. (4) Focus on the positive.
    What does it mean to allow and accept the full range of emotions? All emotions flow through the same pipeline. If we obsess about negative emotions, rather than let them flow through us, we block the emotional pipeline and it interferes with happiness. For example, if your sister and her know-it-all husband are coming for Christmas, don't stay focused on why you dislike him. Acknowledge that your negative feeling is natural and let it flow through. That way, instead of allowing Mr. Idiot to make you feel miserable, you can relax and enjoy the holiday.
    Happiness is blocked by stress and the misery it brings. Richard Kadison, in his 2004 book, College of the Overwhelmed, says that, "since 1988, the likelihood of a college student suffering depression has doubled, thoughts of suicide have tripled, and sexual assaults have quadrupled." Similarly, a recent American Psychological Association survey found that one-third of the population live with extreme stress and 48 percent say it has increased over the past five years.
    Shahar's research claims we can fight this, and increase happiness, if we reduce multitasking and simplify our lives. For example, time with friends and family is a huge happiness producer. But suppose, while your relatives are visiting, you can't tear yourself away from your TV, smartphone, laptop, or ipad. You won't be happier and you may not get more done. In fact, a study in London found that when people check their email while trying to concentrate on something else, they lose the equivalent of ten IQ points—they got temporarily dumber!
    Meditation is the third way Shahar says we can increase happiness. It's simple. Do yoga, breathe deeply, mantra-meditate, or pray. He says all forms work as long as we adhere to the following: (1) Keep it one-pointed. Focus on only one thing: your breathing, mantra, or prayer. (2) Always breathe deeply—belly breathing—over and over. (3) There is not "good" or "bad" meditation; if you lose focus, just deliberately bring it back, and you'll get better.
    Research on the brains of meditators reveals that meditation, even without much expertise, soon activates the left frontal cortex where happiness resides. Practicing meditation on a regular basis, 15 or 20 minutes per day, has been shown to increase overall well-being. Thomas Crum, in his 2006 book, Three Deep Breaths, maintains, as the title suggests, that it is not that difficult. In any case, Shahar cites considerable research to support the view that meditation increases happiness.
    Finally, Shahar says we are happier when we focus on the positive. In particular, he stresses the benefit of expressing gratitude and being appreciative of the ordinary. For example, Emmons and McCullough (2003) found that, "those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis were more likely to exercise regularly, have fewer physical symptoms, feel better about their lives as a whole, and be more optimistic about the upcoming week than were those who kept track of hassles or neutral life events."
    Take Shahar's advice. Open up your emotional pipeline, work out your stress, meditate, stay positive and grateful, and live well between your ears.

For more like this check out my book: Live Well Between Your Ears: 110 ways to think like a psychologist, why it matters, and the research to back it up. Click on the Buy Now button.  It will take you to Amazon where you can look inside to decide whether to buy it.