{"id":1015,"date":"2018-12-22T11:56:57","date_gmt":"2018-12-22T03:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edutecc.com\/?p=1015"},"modified":"2019-02-20T15:44:32","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T07:44:32","slug":"clouds-on-the-horizon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edutecc.com\/?p=1015","title":{"rendered":"Clouds on the horizon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stock market down, Trump on the loose, autocracies on the rise, and things are looking a bit grim as we head into 2019. Maybe it’s all subjective – fear fueled by lively imaginations and ancient fears bubbling to the top. Steven Pinker would certainly have us believe so and provides numbers to prove it (article in the Washington Post<\/a>). So why the malaise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

If I had to venture a rather unscientific guess, I’d attribute much of it to how we consume news in an instant-on culture. This constant news feed distorts reality by tapping into ancient hard-wired instincts, bypassing a calm, rational approach to life based on numbers and verifiable facts. Go for a hike, read a book, and stay off the internet – the 21st century might just look more positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m definitely weary of Pinker’s optimism, but I love a scientific approach to life so give credit where credit is due. His interview in the WP is a worthwhile read, if for nothing more than a lucid summary like this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should appreciate the precious institutions like liberal democracy, science, markets, the rule of law and international organizations, that have made life so much safer, healthier and more peaceful than it was in the past.<\/p>S. Pinker, WP interview by Emma Seppala, Feb 13, 2018<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Yet, it’s precisely these institutions that I worry about heading into a new year and towards a new decade. Appreciation won’t cut it when greed, complacency and self serving biases seem to rule many of those who could make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stock market down, Trump on the loose, autocracies on the rise, and things are looking a bit grim as we head into 2019. Maybe it’s all subjective – fear fueled by lively imaginations and ancient fears bubbling to the top. Steven Pinker would certainly have us believe so and provides numbers to prove it (article … <\/p>\n

\u201eClouds on the horizon\u201c<\/span> weiterlesen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-personal","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edutecc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edutecc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edutecc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edutecc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edutecc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1015"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/edutecc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1039,"href":"https:\/\/edutecc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015\/revisions\/1039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edutecc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edutecc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edutecc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}