Study Shows Equality Benefits Everyone, Rich And Poor

Study Shows Equality Benefits Everyone, Rich And Poor

“The rich developed societies have reached a turning point in human history. Politics should now be about the quality of social relations and how we can develop harmonious and sustainable societies.”  The Equality Trust, based on the work of Professors Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, reached this summary after analyzing data showing that societies with greater inequality between rich and poor are far more unhealthy than societies with a more equal income distribution. More Unequal = More Problems The study shows that: More unequal societies have more problems with general health, mental illness, infant mortality, drug use, obesity, imprisonment rates, teenage pregnancies and homicides. More equal societies have better education and general health, more innovation, higher social mobility and more trust. The Spirit Level – slides from The Equality Trust View more presentations from The Equality Trust The slides and their titles (some listed below) show in more detail how societies with bigger gaps between rich and poor are generally more unhealthy societies than more equal societies: Health and social problems are worse in more unequal countries Health and social problems are not related to income in rich countries Health and social problems are worse in unequal US states Health and social problems are only weakly related to average income in US states Child well-being is better in more equal rich countries Child well-being is unrelated to average incomes in rich countries Levels of trust are higher in more equal rich countries Levels of trust are higher in more equal US states The prevalence of mental illness is higher in more unequal rich countries Drug use is more common in more unequal countries Life expectancy...
Global Interconnection Between People And Nations – A Fact Of Life [TED Talk]

Global Interconnection Between People And Nations – A Fact Of Life [TED Talk]

Today, in our modern world, because of the Internet, everything is connected to everything. We are now interdependent. We are now interlocked as nations, as individuals, in a way which has never been the case before.”  – Paddy Ashdown Veteran Diplomat and Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Paddy Ashdown describes the period we live in as one of those terrifying periods of history when power changes… And these are always periods accompanied by turbulence, and all too often by blood.” Most notably, Ashdown points out that this global interconnection is a fact of life, but one which can be either a terrifying prospect or a cause for celebration and peace, as it means that we all share a common destiny: Global Interconnection  –  Danger: If you get Swine Flu in Mexico, it’s a problem for Charles De Gaul Airport 24 hours later. Lehman Brothers goes down – the whole lot collapses. There are fires in the steppes of Russia – food riots in Africa. We are all now deeply, deeply, deeply interconnected. It used to be the case that if my tribe is more powerful than their tribe, I was safe. My country was more powerful than their country, I was safe. My alliance, like NATO, was more powerful than their alliance, I was safe. It is no longer the case.” Global Interconnection  –  Hope: If it is the case that we are now locked together in a way that has never been quite the same before, then it is also the case that we share a destiny with each other. …The advent of interconnectedness and of the weapons...
5 Things To Do Everyday To Be Happier

5 Things To Do Everyday To Be Happier

You can do an experiment where you give two groups of people a hundred dollars in the morning. You tell one of them to spend it on themselves, and one on other people. You measure their happiness at the end of the day. Those who spent on other people are much happier than those who spent it on themselves.” — Nic Marks Founder of the Center for Well-Being, an independent think tank at the New Economics Foundation, in London, Marks is particularly keen to promote a balance between sustainable development and quality of life. To investigate this, he devised the Happy Planet Index, a global index of human well-being and environmental impact. The results made headlines: People in the world’s wealthiest countries, who consume the most of the planet’s resources, don’t come out on top in terms of well-being. Which raises the question: What purpose does unfettered economic growth serve? 5 Things To Do Everyday To Be Happier According to Marks’ analysis of well being and happiness, what are the 5 things you should do every day to be happier? 1. Connect Connect with the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbors. At home, work, school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day. 2. Be Active… Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and one that suits your level of mobility and fitness. 3....
The Recipe For A Better World: 21 Billion Hours Of Online Gaming Per Week [TED Talk]

The Recipe For A Better World: 21 Billion Hours Of Online Gaming Per Week [TED Talk]

If we want to solve problems like hunger, poverty, climate change, global hunger, and obesity, I believe that we need to aspire to play games online for at least 21 billion hours a week by the end of the next decade.” Jane Mcgonigal, Ph.D., a game designer, has been making online games for over ten years, and she has a plan. Her goal for the next decade is to make it as easy to save the world in real life, as it is in online games. Right now, we spend 3 billion hours a week playing online games, she says. But according to McGonigal’s research at The Institute for the Future, that’s not nearly enough to solve the world’s most urgent problems, because gamers are a human resource that we can use to do real world work” and “games are a powerful platform for change.” When I look forward to the next decade” she shares, “I know two things for sure: that we can make any future we can imagine, and we can play any games we want. So I say, let the world changing games begin.” Watch Jane McGonigal’s Ted talk [20 min.] about how gaming can make a better world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1DuBesGYM Why Are Games So Essential To The Future Of Humanity? The first thing gamers get good at according to McGonigal is “urgent optimism,” extreme self motivation, the desire to act immediately to tackle an obstacle, combined with a belief that we have a reasonable hope of a success. Secondly, gamers are virtuosos at “weaving a tight social fabric.” “It takes a lot of trust to play a...
Neuroscience Reveals: Your Consciousness Is Connected To Everyone Else’s [TED Talk]

Neuroscience Reveals: Your Consciousness Is Connected To Everyone Else’s [TED Talk]

All that’s separating you from another person is your skin. Remove it and you have removed the barrier between you and other beings. So there is no real independent self aloof from other human beings, inspecting the world and inspecting other people, you are in fact connected not just by facebook and internet, you are connected by your neurons.” Neuroscientist Vilyanur S. Ramachandran, Ph.D., outlines the fascinating functions of mirror neurons. Only recently discovered, these neurons allow us to learn complex social behaviors, some of which formed the foundations of human civilization as we know it. Ramachandran is director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego, and an adjunct professor at the Salk Institute. According to his research, we have whole chains of neurons which talk to each other, so  there is no real distinctiveness of your consciousness from somebody else’s consciousness… And this is not mumbo-jumbo philosophy” he says, “it emerges from our understanding of basic neuroscience.” Watch Ramachandran’s TED Talk [7 min.] about the neurons that shaped civilization: Ramachandran looks deep into the brain’s most basic mechanisms.  [The human brain is] a lump of flesh of about 3 pounds… but it can contemplate the vastness of interstellar space. It can contemplate the meaning of infinity, ask questions about the meaning of its own existence… It’s the greatest mystery confronting human beings” Also he notes that there are 100 billion neurons in the adult human brain. And each one makes something like 1,000 to 10,000 contacts to other neurons in the brain… the number of permutations and combinations of brain activity...