Short supply of rational thinking

I was prompted to write this post following the great panic spreading worldwide after the explosions in the nuclear facility in Fukushima – panic that was absolutely unfounded if you happen to live outside Japan, let alone in Europe. That is what scientist say and what data indicates, but the opposite to what people generally believe in and how they behave.

A few years back I read a book called “Risk – The Science and Politics of Fear” (by Dan Gardner), which explains why people tend to worry about events with low likelihood of harming them directly (terrorism, nuclear leak, plane crash) and ignore far more likely reasons to worry such as strokes, obesity or lung cancer. It also explains why sound data alleviating our concerns does not work as expected, as opposed to even scarce evidence confirming our fears. All explanations in the book are based on quality behavioural research. I am not going to explain any of this in detail, but will give you a few highlights: 

·        In the age of information overflow our reactions, as those of our ancestors hunting in the African savannah, are driven more by our gut (hunch, instincts, emotions) than our brain. It means that our modern-day ability of cool analysis is too often overshadowed by the primal survival instinct. In addition, on the gut level, we do not differentiate very well between the real and perceived danger. This is a very simplified explanation, but basically means that e.g. the level of how safe one feels may decrease after hearing about an assault on a shop keeper in a completely different area of the town. Similarly, our fear of flying will increase after hearing about a plane crash in another country. Same happens now in relation to Fukushima – explosion caused by an earthquake in Japan prompts people in Germany to close their own reactors. There is no direct relation between both, but the gut will always win the battle with the brain.

·        The second problem is the amount of information we receive from different sources these days. In order to find its way to us it has to stand out, surprise, even better - shock. Mundane everyday life stories just do not get through. This is hardly news to you - everyone knows that media exaggerates. Not many realise however how it impacts our daily lives – we simply worry and fear too much because of things that do not really concern us. This is why e.g. people think that the world is full of conflicts, whereas it has never been safer to live on planet earth.

·       The third factor is how the information (data) is presented to us. This is a direct consequence of the point above – news has to be interesting. It is also because journalists are people – their gut usually beats the brain. This is my example of what we can often see in the news. Headline states that “Eating eggs increases the risk of cancer three times”. What it may really mean is:

-       Risk increases from 0.034% to 0.1% or a similar absurdly small number;

-       This happens only if you eat more than 10 eggs per day; and

-       The experiment was conducted on a group of 50-year-old obese men. 

-         What we remember from the above is usually the headline – we do not have time to read the detail. Besides, our gut is already scared of the information in the headline, so it will be likely to ignore the evidence that does not support it. After all, if you live in a savannah and you detect even a slightest threat of a lion coming to kill you, you will not think twice, but run.

Coming back to modern live: read the data, not the headlines; analyse calmly and… relax. 

Buena onda en Buenos Aires

Buena onda means good vibe and is often used by Argentinians to describe an ambience in a bar or club. After having lived in Buenos Aires for more than two months now, I am happy to extend this term to describe the whole city – very liveable, with excellent night life and effortlessly cool.

BA has several quite distinct neighbourhoods (barrios) with something for everyone:

Puerto Madero, located in the old docks, is the most modern part of the city with new high rise condominiums, red brick warehouses converted into offices or restaurants and a nearby natural reserve.

Microcentro is the commercial heart of BA with plenty of offices, government buildings, shops, ubiquitous street vendors and lots of noise – particularly on what Argentinians consider to be the widest avenue in the world (9 de julio).

San Telmo is artistic, unpretentious and affordable.

Recoleta is a synonym of posh and could easily be confused with some barrios of Madrid or Paris.

Boca on the other hand is very working class – home to milongas (tango venues), picturesque Caminito street with colourful houses and Boca Juniors’ football stadium, tastily named La Bombonera (Chocolate Box).

Last, but not least - Palermo. It is a green haven of the city with vast parks, all kinds of shops, plenty of trendy clubs and boutiques, good restaurants and all other good stuff that makes it great to live, rest and have fun.

Palermo, particularly its parts called Soho and Hollywood, is also the best place to go out at night – this is where the city’s buena onda is at its best. Night life in BA is usually divided into three stages: dining, socialising in bars and dancing. This is hardly different to, say, Mediterranean cities, or even places like London, but BA has its own specific pace.

1.     Dining. Porteños, as residents of BA are known as, go to restaurants at 9pm the earliest, but you can usually have dinner even until 1am. Same goes even for coffee – Starbuck’s stays open past midnight, whereas e.g. in London you are politely asked to leave just after 9pm. Typical dinner would comprise a tasty steak (asado) with wine, pizza with bear or empanadas. By the way, both Argentinian steaks and pizzas are probably the best in the world, as well as reasonably priced.

2.   Socialising in bars. After dinner, usually around midnight, porteños hit the nearby bars. Bars here are usually uniquely and creatively decorated, particularly the secret ones. These are bars with no signs outside – you just need to know where to go. One of the ones I have been to is entered via a red telephone box located next to a trendy boutique – you need to dial a special number and only then the door opens

3.   Dancing. There is no point in going to a proper disco (boliche) before 2am, unless for a drink. Going after 4am is however not a good idea either as many of them close the doors for new entrants at that time. DJs usually play international dance music, but some venues focus on more Latin genres such as salsa or reggaeton. The great thing is that there are usually no stupidly rigid dress codes, but people are fashion conscious and usually dress trendy.

I mentioned earlier that Buenos Aires is an effortlessly cool city; I will now briefly explain why. One of the most important attributes of being cool is not trying too hard and the night life in BA is just that – bars are creatively decorated, but not over the top; people do not overdress (like e.g. girls in London) when they go out but still manage to dress well; secret bars are cool, but not elitist or pretentious; people know how to party but usually take it easy and focus on having good time, etc. The mixture of all the above makes Buenos Aires the most effortlessly cool city in the world, period. 

The world that stayed with me

Dining in style with K on top of Dar es Salaam

Evening jazz in Philadelphia with R&N in the rhythm of Malbec

Mariachi, rooster fight and mole with E in Puebla with a full impact of jet lag

Fruit eating session in Singapore with P

Driving across Sicily with F

Rocking in Vilnius with crazy Lithuanian crew

Almost sky-diving with F near Strasbourg, saved by the rain

Lunatic mountain biking with M near Cusco - no breath, just bruises

Trekking in Pyrenees followed by wine and cheese in Toulouse with M&D

Glimpse of Kilimanjaro from the hotel roof in Moshi with A&J&K

Sleepless night and awesome food in windy Hong Kong with T

Nude beach with W near Valencia 

Wandering the streets of Edinburgh with M&G&L after the ghost show

Team meetings in the middle of the street in Amsterdam with E&K&J&J

Chinese food in Warsaw with O, special.

Cruising in M’s Subaru Impreza to the beats of Linkin Park in Nairobi with J&K

Lazy times and huge masseuse in Turkish bath in Istanbul with K

Visiting Skopje castle with I&M

Drinking young Bordeaux on the stairs of Sacre Coeur in Paris with Q

London, Lisbon – where do I start?

Playing board games and sipping mate in Buenos Aires with M&M&P…

These may just be (a small sample of my) memories, but I know one thing - I am who I am because of you. 

Just slogans?

…a difference.
…make a difference.
…actions make a difference.
…our actions make a difference.
Your actions make a difference.

Naivety? Well, a cynic will never change the world.

Amazing ladies

I recently interviewed Hebe de Bonafini, who is one of the founders of an organisation called Madres de Plaza de Mayo. This is a group of women who, in April 1977, during a military dictatorship in Argentina, started a protest in order to find out what happened to their missing children and husbands. It was common at that time that people deemed anti-government would simply disappear, being usually kidnapped by a secret police or paramilitary groups supported by the military government. Most of them were killed (probably a total of 30 thousand) and their bodies rarely found; many were dropped alive from airplanes into the ocean.

More than 30 years later the organisation is thriving. Hebe, currently 82 years old, is the boss and the face of the organisation. I can guarantee that many much younger people would envy her vitality and sharp mind. The energy that these elderly women have does not however come from the sense of the revenge they have, despite the fact that most of the people involved in the military regime have not been sentenced. The organisation is very involved in promoting human rights in Argentina and beyond. Madres also have their own radio, magazines, build affordable homes and get actively involved in politics. During her first international trip the new president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, made sure that the meeting with Madres is included in her very packed agenda.

The whole story of the organisation is extremely interesting, but primarily a great example that what seems like an end can be a great beginning, that even the worst experience can be turned into a positive action, that action is better than doing nothing, that action is satisfying and bitterness brings nothing. 

Poor of hope

I always see this man on my way to the gym. He sells all kind of cheap crap (pencils, small toys, sweets, etc) from his spot on a pavement. What strikes me about him every time is the apathy clearly visible in his sad eyes and crooked posture. I have never seen him sell anything and it is hard for me to imagine that anyone would really be interested in buying anything from his stock without him applying active sales techniques such as smile, eye contact, perhaps a witty slogan.

Does he have any useful skills? Probably. Does he do anything else than selling? I don’t know. Does he feel he is in control of his life? Highly doubtful.

I don’t think I will be very original here (I remember that Kapuscinski made a similar observation in one of his books), but I realised that the moment you become really poor is when you lose hope. Hope gives a direction, energy, sense of purpose; switches the light at the end of the tunnel. Lack of hope means that this light will always be perceived as the approaching train in the tunnel with no exit. 

Not so politically correct

In January there is a big lottery in Argentina called “El Gordo”. The name can be translated either as “the big one” or more literally “the fat man”. It seems to be quite popular here and when I arrived there were many posters advertising the big prize. Normally such posters have symbols of local currency and perhaps a picture of some expensive stuff such as cars, exotic locations, etc. The posters here were however much more aligned with the name of the lottery and featured a sitting chubby man, who in Asian cultures is known by the name… Buddha.

I don’t know if the Argentinean Buddhist community have already contacted the organisers of the lottery protesting about the misuse of Buddha’s image, but I know places where it would certainly happen. Being born in Poland, where people tend to get offended quite easily, and then having spent many years in a very politically correct England, I actually welcomed the smiling fat lottery-Buddha with a smile myself. I’d like to think that he wouldn’t mind this either. If we need to worry about anything it should not be something of such little significance. 

Improvisation

“Adam, you are a thief and you want to rob this kiosk. Bear in mind however that this is your first time - you are very nervous and do not really know what to do. You may hesitate and finally not proceed with the crime at all. It’s up to you and depends on how the scene develops. Have fun!”

I am a thief.

Location

Kiosks are usually small and full of fairly cheap stuff – sweets, beverages. This one will have toys on shelves and some souvenirs for tourists. The till will be on a counter to the right.

Situation

I need to keep myself busy for a while after I enter the kiosk; I can’t make the robbery right away – this would almost automatically be the end of the scene. I know there will be other people in the kiosk. How do I interact with them? I can pretend I am from the local tax office and need to check accounts and look around. Is this believable though? I may need a piece of paper to present as ID.

Behaviour

It would be good to introduce a bit of a comedy to the scene. How would Woody Allen approach it? I am going to stutter! That would be a clear presentation of my nervousness and would deal with the fact that I am not yet that fluent with Spanish. Anything else? Probably not; I do not want to overdo the scene and it is after all an improvisation. 

I am a thief. Action!