Greetings from Taipei! Enjoy this weeks reads!
#1 Out-groups: I see people make this mistake all the time. It's called the out-group homogeneity effect. It's the mistaken belief that anyone in an out-group from you are all similar in their beliefs while at the same time acknowledging the diversity of viewpoints within your own in-group.
Adam Grant wrote about this in his book Originals: "internally, groups identify with the people who are “most central and connected in the group.” At the same time, outsiders judge groups through the person with “the most extreme views.”
#2 Passion: Backlash to ideas can sometimes help us improve how we think about something. While "passion" has been dismissed by many, perhaps a more nuanced view is appropriate:
This kind of passion, the harmonious kind, is associated with health, happiness and overall life satisfaction. Harmonious passion doesn’t happen automatically, especially in today’s hyper-connected, comparison-oriented culture. Rather, it requires viewing passion as an ongoing practice, as a force that must be handled with care.
I see people often make the mistake of wanting to work within a domain that they are curious about rather than trying to separate out what they actually want to be doing.
#3 Helicopter Parenting: Data shows that parents who are more "authoritative" achieve better results.
For example, through some complex statistical analysis, they show that according to one US data set, when controlling for mothers’ level of education, kids of authoritative moms have a higher probability of getting a college degree (34%) than kids of permissive ones (30%) or authoritarian (24%)
The article also cites research showing that there is more "helicopter parenting" in countries where there is higher inequality.
#4 Education, Media & Politics: David Perell does a good job of weaving together different perspectives on these three industries and how the internet is changing them all (Longread, 54 mins). His general framework is along these lines:
Three trends will initiate the downfall of higher education: (1) the global rise in the number of college graduates, (2) the rise in education costs, and (3) new methods of educating and accrediting students. This downfall will be further hastened by the explosion of information, which students can access for free on the internet.
#5 Happiness: Daniel Kahneman gave up on happiness:
“I gradually became convinced that people don’t want to be happy,” he explained. “They want to be satisfied with their life.”
A bit stunned, I asked him to repeat that statement. “People don’t want to be happy the way I’ve defined the term – what I experience here and now. In my view, it’s much more important for them to be satisfied, to experience life satisfaction, from the perspective of ‘What I remember,’ of the story they tell about their lives. I furthered the development of tools for understanding and advancing an asset that I think is important but most people aren’t interested in.
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