Perspectives in the time of Coronavirus (aka #48)
This is not a piece about coronavirus, what is happening, what the trends are or how to deal with it. Nor is it a self-help guide on how to deal with working from home during corona.
I am eminently unqualified to provide an opinion, let alone advise on either of those two.
This is a collection of unstructured thoughts prompted by Coronavirus. Some of which will hopefully relate to International Development, and some of which you’ll find interesting.
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There is a lot of “noise” out there. Not the type your young neighbours make on a Saturday night. Rather, the overload of often useless information that distracts a person from seeing the real information. Nicholas Taleb in Anti-fragile
“the more frequently you look at data, the more noise you are disproportionally likely to get (rather than the valuable part, called the signal)….we are not made to understand the point, so we overreact emotionally to noise….it is almost impossible for someone rational, with a clear, uninfected mind, someone who is not drowning in data, to mistake a vital sign, one that matters for [their] survival, for noise, unless [they] are overanxious, oversensitive, and neurotic, hence distracted and confused by other messages”
I hope i’ve kept the essence of what he is trying to say in this shortened quote. I’m reading the news only once a day and/or occasionally the news online. I have all notifications on social media turned off. I feel less anxious than what i perceive others to be.
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Some of you in the LIDN community have experienced lockdowns be it due to war, cholera, ebola, war, repressive governments… I would sometimes get that slightly superior look / comment / sentiment when you recount to friends and family how nationals of whichever country you’re in might be reacting in a given context; people crowding ports, airports, frontiers to escape, scuffles or riots in queues to get food, disregard for government directives.
Human behaviour. Some people are no better, some are no worse.
I hope though that this situation gives those in the “global north” a little better understanding, to appreciate this as 1 millionth of what some of those in the “south” experience every day; to look less with pity and superiority and be moved to act with understanding and solidarity.
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Self-control is finite. Activities which require voluntary effort — cognitive, emotional or physical — draw in part on a pool of mental energy. Termed Ego Depletion, experiments have found that after exerting effort (or self-control) in one task you do not feel like making the effort in another. You could and you might, but with decreasing desire with each subsequent effort. (also read Thinking, fast and slow, Daniel Kahneman — Chapter 3 (synthesis here) or a 7 minute summary of the whole book. caveat — i haven’t fully read either link)
“Keep Calm and…” advice might not be so bad at all.
Bannerji and Duflo in Poor Economics refer to the effects of cortisol on decision-making. There seems to be a strong associations between poverty and level of cortisol produced by the body, which is an indicator of stress.
“cortisol directly impairs cognitive and decision-making ability. The stress-induced release of cortisol affects the brain areas such as the pre-frontal cortex, the amygdala, and the hippocampus which are important in cognitive functioning; in particular, the pre-frontal cortex is important in the suppression of impulsive responses”
The dice are loaded for many poor. Worth having handy when you come across people that question their decision-making.
The psychological affects though are the same for everyone
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I’m still trying to understand counter-intuitive logic behind the stock piling of toilet paper and pasta, flour and snack foods.
“If you commonly eat a large number of refined, or processed, carbohydrates, you may develop constipation. When grains are processed, they’re stripped of the bran and germ, which contain fibre and nutrients. As a result, foods made from refined carbohydrates, such as white bread, pasta, white rice, sugar, corn syrup and many snack foods, contribute a lot of carbohydrates but little dietary fibre. In your digestive tract, fibre helps to prevent constipation” Livestrong
(I’ve taken the liberty of correcting the word “fibre” . Sorry, purist.)
So basically, many people have stockpiled refined and processed carbs, which will ultimately cause them to become constipated, which in turn will make the need for that much toilet paper redundant….
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Finally, a little dark humour courtesy of Yes, Minister — The 4 Stage Plan
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We like to think of LIDN as a community, more than just a network. Either way, we’re human, connected and concerned . If anyone is finding it hard dealing with the Coronavirus situation, reach out on FB, Twitter, phone — just get in touch. If we can’t even support each other, what hope do we have to support others in our line of work.
Keep Calm and stay safe everyone.
