Max’s Reviews > Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think > Status Update
Max
is on page 159 of 353
Factfulness is recognising when a category is being used in an explanation, and remembering that categories can be misleading. We can’t stop generalisation and we shouldn’t even try. What we should try to do is to avoid generalising incorrectly.
— Apr 07, 2026 09:31AM
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Max
is on page 134 of 353
Factfulness is recognising when a lonely number seems impressive (small or large), and remembering that you could get the opposite impression if it were compared with or divided by some other relevant number. To control the size instinct, get things in proportion.
— Mar 18, 2026 11:07AM
Max
is on page 115 of 353
Fear can be useful, but only if it is directed at the right things. The fear instinct is a terrible guide for understanding the world. It makes us give our attention to the unlikely dangers that we are most afraid of, and neglect what is actually most risky.
— Mar 15, 2026 02:07AM
Max
is on page 98 of 353
Factfulness is recognising the assumption that a line will just continue straight, and remembering that such lines are rare in reality.
To control the straight line instinct, remember that curves come in different shapes.
Don’t assume straight lines. Many trends do not follow straight lines but are S-bends, slides, humps, or doubling lines.
— Mar 15, 2026 01:43AM
To control the straight line instinct, remember that curves come in different shapes.
Don’t assume straight lines. Many trends do not follow straight lines but are S-bends, slides, humps, or doubling lines.
Max
is on page 74 of 353
Factfulness is recognising when we get negative news, and remembering that information about bad events is much more likely to reach us. When things are getting better we often don’t hear about them. This gives us a systematically too-negative impression of the world around us, which is very stressful. To control the negativity instinct, expect bad news.
— Mar 15, 2026 01:28AM
Look for differences within groups.
Look for similarities across groups.
But also look for differences across groups.
Beware of ”the majority”.
Beware of vivid examples.
Assume people are not idiots.