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You are wrong, I am wrong, we are wrong

firedragon

Veteran Member
Excerpt from "Factfullness" by Hans Roslin. The books begins this way with a questionnaire. Try and find out if you are right or wrong in some of your answers and why.

1. In all low-income countries across the world today, how many girls finish primary school?
A: 20 percent
B: 40 percent
C: 60 percent

2. Where does the majority of the world population live?
A: Low-income countries
B: Middle-income countries
C: High-income countries

3. In the last 20 years, the proportion of the world population living in extreme poverty has …
A: almost doubled
B: remained more or less the same
C: almost halved

4. What is the life expectancy of the world today?
A: 50 years
B: 60 years
C: 70 years

5. There are 2 billion children in the world today, aged 0 to 15 years old. How many children will there be in the year 2100, according to the United Nations?

A: 4 billion
B: 3 billion
C: 2 billion

6. The UN predicts that by 2100 the world population will have increased by another 4 billion people. What is the main reason?
A: There will be more children (age below 15)
B: There will be more adults (age 15 to 74)
C: There will be more very old people (age 75 and older)

7. How did the number of deaths per year from natural disasters change over the last hundred years?
A: More than doubled
B: Remained about the same
C: Decreased to less than half

8. There are roughly 7 billion people in the world today. Which map shows best where
they live? (Each figure represents 1 billion people.)


The answers for this question is on an image and I can't seem to upload a snapshot of it. Apologies.

9. How many of the world’s 1-year-old children today have been vaccinated against some disease?
A: 20 percent
B: 50 percent
C: 80 percent

10. Worldwide, 30-year-old men have spent 10 years in school, on average. How many years have women of the same age spent in school?
A: 9 years
B: 6 years
C: 3 years

11. In 1996, tigers, giant pandas, and black rhinos were all listed as endangered. How many of these three species are more critically endangered today?
A: Two of them
B: One of them
C: None of them

12. How many people in the world have some access to electricity?
A: 20 percent
B: 50 percent
C: 80 percent

13. Global climate experts believe that, over the next 100 years, the average temperature will …
A: get warmer
B: remain the same
C: get colder

Here are the correct answers:
1: C, 2: B, 3: C, 4: C, 5: C, 6: B, 7: C, 8: A, 9: C, 10: A, 11: C, 12: C, 13: A
Score one for each correct answer, and write your total score on your piece of paper.
 

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
According to question 6, it seems this was "pre-Corona" calculated. Otherwise we don't have to worry about Corona (8 billion to 12 billion)
 

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
It was written in 2018. Not sure when they published it. Great book.
And a good way (this questionair) to humble myself, that I know very little (at least quite a few questions I did not know)
 
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firedragon

Veteran Member
And a good way (this questionair) to humble ourselves, that we know very little (at least quite a few questions I did not know)

Bill gates said that this was one of the most important book he has ever read or something like that.
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
I missed most of them. My answers tended to be much more pessimistic than the correct answers.

Kind of made me feel good to be wrong, in this case.
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
I've got and read the book so I didn't answer, but the answers were quite surprising when I did read it, and it tends to show that despite all the doom merchants things have gotten better overall. But having just read this - 10 Billion (2013) by Stephen Emmott - we still might be up the creek despite, and perhaps because, of all the progress we have made. His conclusion - we are f*****d. :oops: Seemingly, because no matter what solutions we come up with for all our various problems, if the population continues to grow then all our solutions will just not work.
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
I've got and read the book so I didn't answer, but the answers were quite surprising when I did read it, and it tends to show that despite all the doom merchants things have gotten better overall. But having just read this - 10 Billion (2013) by Stephen Emmott - we still might be up the creek despite, and perhaps because, of all the progress we have made. His conclusion - we are f*****d. :oops: Seemingly, because no matter what solutions we come up with for all our various problems, if the population continues to grow then all our solutions will just not work.

While we can review our progress, its almost impossible to accurately assess our future. We can guess, but that's about it. There are just too many unknowns. If someone had said a year or two ago that a good chunk of the world would be under lockdown due to a nasty virus, we would have thought they had been reading too much science fiction.

We just don't know. All we can do is do our best to take personal responsibility for our actions in hopes for a brighter future for all.
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
While we can review our progress, its almost impossible to accurately assess our future. We can guess, but that's about it. There are just too many unknowns. If someone had said a year or two ago that a good chunk of the world would be under lockdown due to a nasty virus, we would have thought they had been reading too much science fiction.

We just don't know. All we can do is do our best to take personal responsibility for our actions in hopes for a brighter future for all.

Well he is a scientist, no doubt used to handling lots of data, and the figures just don't stack up, even if we do our best. I'm sure many of us have been suspicious of how we could all seem to carry on and not expect some serious come-back from the inexorable growth that is the bread and butter of capitalism. The pollution, from plastics alone, is horrendous, let alone what we are doing to planet life in general. I wouldn't place the blame anywhere particular but can you see the governments of the world getting together to confront our serious issues? I can't, especially with people like Trump, Putin, the current Chinese leadership, and several others. As mentioned in the book, if we faced a serious asteroid incident that really threatened the world then we might get some cooperation but not before such. May be grim, but one has to face up to facts.
 

firedragon

Veteran Member
I've got and read the book so I didn't answer, but the answers were quite surprising when I did read it, and it tends to show that despite all the doom merchants things have gotten better overall. But having just read this - 10 Billion (2013) by Stephen Emmott - we still might be up the creek despite, and perhaps because, of all the progress we have made. His conclusion - we are f*****d. :oops: Seemingly, because no matter what solutions we come up with for all our various problems, if the population continues to grow then all our solutions will just not work.

I know about Stephen Emmott but never read his book. But I shall make a note and purchase the book ASAP. Thanks for the introduction.
 

firedragon

Veteran Member
While we can review our progress, its almost impossible to accurately assess our future. We can guess, but that's about it. There are just too many unknowns. If someone had said a year or two ago that a good chunk of the world would be under lockdown due to a nasty virus, we would have thought they had been reading too much science fiction.

We just don't know. All we can do is do our best to take personal responsibility for our actions in hopes for a brighter future for all.

What you say could be true but the thing is, deduction is not guesswork. Its better to do some projections based on data as we do every day in businesses and all kinds of fields. If someone makes projections based on no foundation whatsoever, that's guesswork and is unreasonable. Thus, prior to making any thoughts on this guys work might as well read the book and then make some assessment.
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
Well he is a scientist, no doubt used to handling lots of data, and the figures just don't stack up, even if we do our best. I'm sure many of us have been suspicious of how we could all seem to carry on and not expect some serious come-back from the inexorable growth that is the bread and butter of capitalism. The pollution, from plastics alone, is horrendous, let alone what we are doing to planet life in general. I wouldn't place the blame anywhere particular but can you see the governments of the world getting together to confront our serious issues? I can't, especially with people like Trump, Putin, the current Chinese leadership, and several others. As mentioned in the book, if we faced a serious asteroid incident that really threatened the world then we might get some cooperation but not before such. May be grim, but one has to face up to facts.

Never thought an asteroid incident would seem like a positive situation, but I suppose everything has a bright side... :D

I can't see the world governments coming together to tie a pair of shoes, honestly.

It is grim. I don't disagree with what you say. I just try not to get overly invested in what is to come, other than to let it influence my actions, because the future doesn't care what I think of it. It'll come either way.

Did the book give any advice on where to go from here?
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
Never thought an asteroid incident would seem like a positive situation, but I suppose everything has a bright side... :D

I can't see the world governments coming together to tie a pair of shoes, honestly.

It is grim. I don't disagree with what you say. I just try not to get overly invested in what is to come, other than to let it influence my actions, because the future doesn't care what I think of it. It'll come either way.

Did the book give any advice on where to go from here?

Not really, apart from the obvious, that is to try to get our governments to cooperate with others and not to put their own countries first. Which is an almost impossible task, given they have to be voted into power, and that isn't a popular platform. Would be nice to have leaders we could trust - unlike some we could mention. :oops:
 

firedragon

Veteran Member
Very short - I probably read it in less than an hour.

Ah really! In that case I should get this immediately. Such a well known scientist to write something that could be read so quickly is a worthy read me thinks. Yet, no judgment made till its read. Thanks.
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
Not really, apart from the obvious, that is to try to get our governments to cooperate with others and not to put their own countries first. Which is an almost impossible task, given they have to be voted into power, and that isn't a popular platform. Would be nice to have leaders we could trust - unlike some we could mention. :oops:

That does seem like an impossible task.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
I knew a couple of them based on knowing extreme poverty is much less today than in the past. I witnessed it in various trips to India. In 1974, I saw people living in the streat, wearing filthy clothes without even a cover over their head when they lay down to sleep.

In my last trip in 2012, the difference was obvious to my eyes. Poverty, yes. But the relative lack of utter abject poverty was obvious.

Still, I missed most of the questions.
 
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