City BeatSober look at the facts reveals Hong Kong and the world may not be as troubled as they seem
- As a year of emotion-fuelled conflict and controversy draws to a close, city could do with a return to a more fact-based world view to solve its problems
To say 2018 was a tumultuous year is no exaggeration, but how about 2019 and what’s in store for Hong Kong?
Feng shui masters may offer various forecasts, but the facts may be something else, and what is good or bad depends on whom you ask or how you look at it.
I’ve just been reading Hans Rosling’s Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, in which the late Swedish statistician likens the world to a premature baby lying critically ill in an incubator.
“After a week, she is getting a lot better. On all the main measures, she is improving, but she still has to stay in the incubator because her health is still critical,” he writes.
“Does it make sense to say the infant’s situation is improving? Yes. Absolutely. Does it make sense to say it is bad? Yes, absolutely. Does saying ‘things are improving’ imply that everything is fine, and we should all relax and not worry? No, not at all. Is it helpful to have to choose between bad and improving? Definitely not. It’s both. It’s both bad and better. Better, and bad, at the same time.”