Careers in Saving the World, Who are Sea Turtles? – and Brainworking Pigs!

Grüezi! I’m Adrian Monck, welcome to this World Economic Forum newsletter.

This week... how to make a future in tackling the big stuff, we’re not all equal in the eyes of COVID–19, and evolution isn’t slow, it’s sudden and triggered by...existential risks! (Please no asteroid strikes, super-volcanoes or nuclear showdowns this month.)

Remember newsletters are for sharing – So please share this one!

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 1?? Career Challenge: Existential Risks

The world will look up and shout “SAVE US” and I’ll whisper “NO”.

What if you shouted “YES!”?

Want to use your career to tackle existential threats to humankind?

Here’s how!

• “Think about which particular risks you want to focus on mitigating — ‘direct’ existential risks like particularly severe pandemics, or ‘indirect’ existential risks (so-called ‘risk factors’), like global political instability or lack of cooperation between major powers.
• Come up with ideas for careers that address these issues — we think careers in research, government & policy, and nonprofits seem especially promising.
• Identify next steps to entering into those careers, compare them, and get started.”

Check out the full advice from the folks at 80,000 hours.

? Here are 5 skills researchers say employers are looking for right now.

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2?? Why Focus on Existential Risks?

Christopher Nolan’s dystopian future of dust storms, in Interstellar, now looks uncomfortably close to home.

Just take a look at one of the wealthiest places on the planet.

The New York Times headlines its reporting from California: Fires, Blackouts, a Heat Wave and a Pandemic...

• “On Wednesday millions of California residents were smothered by smoke-filled skies as dozens of wildfires raged out of control. They braced for triple-digit temperatures, the sixth day of a punishing heat wave that included a recent reading of 130 degrees in Death Valley. They braced for possible power outages because the state’s grid is overloaded, the latest sign of an energy crisis. And they continued to fight a virus that is killing 130 Californians a day.
• Even for a state accustomed to disaster, August has been a terrible month.”

? From zero to one: a realist’s guide to overcoming hopelessness.

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3?? We’re Not All Equal When it Comes to COVID–19

Three COVID–19 Inequality Lessons from Mumbai

1. COVID-19 spreads most easily and rapidly in slums. If the urban poor are at all protected it is, ironically, because migration and life expectancy have led to younger populations in slums, which could lower fatality rates. But huge inequalities in access to healthcare and long-term effects of poverty on health could cancel out this “advantage”...
2. Recorded cases need not track infections, and using case numbers to tell stories about spread may be misleading. Expect a growing gap between the detection of infections in marginalised communities versus relatively well-off ones.
3. We should treat stories of low fatality rates with scepticism.

? Get more context with our COVID–19 Transformation Map.

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4?? Do You Know What a ‘Sea Turtle’ is?

A character from Finding Nemo?

No – ‘sea turtles’ are Chinese ‘repatriates’. They’re young Chinese who went to the U.S. for their education and then headed back home, choosing Beijing over the Bay Area.

In a fascinating piece, Chinese American writer Yiren Lu reflects on life for her privileged contemporaries, while attending Zhen Academy, an elite self-improvement seminar:

• One would think that all these sea turtles, educated or at least exposed to the democratic tradition, would chafe under restrictions to speech, press, and assembly. Yet the impression I got at Zhen Academy, where roughly half of the class had spent some time abroad, and from talking to Chinese friends in the US, was the opposite. Some students, particularly from privileged classes, “come to this country and see how democracy works, and they actually become disenchanted,” says Yuhua Wang, a professor of political science at Harvard. “Part of the reason is that they see the problems, the inefficiencies, the gridlock of democracy. Back in China, everything seems to work very smoothly, because there's a very strong party.”

There’s so much more:

• “Americans often emphasize “feeling good” about ourselves; we pull off this delicate act by redefining our flaws as something to be embraced. Self-help exists to uplift. It traffics in empowering messages. It tells us that our only flaw is negativity...
• In China, the message is bleaker ... Suggestions to lose weight, comments on physical appearance, gender stereotypes, discussions of net worth, are not only commonplace, they’re considered motivating exhortations. There’s no expectation that society will change, so the responsibility is on you to get with the program.”

Read it!

? Why 2020 will see the birth of the ‘trust economy’. 

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5?? Cleaning up the World’s Cleanest City post-COVID–19

? Nothing’s cleaner than Robin, Linda, Max and the team at World vs Virus – plus it’s Apple recommended!

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6?? Evolution is Driven by Catastrophe

Sid the Sloth is right. Evolution happens fast. And it’s triggered by very bad things...

Evolution doesn’t happen gradually. Life tootles along, asteroids strike, climate changes. Then ... everything changes.

Modern-day evolutionary biologists now have two enigmas to explain. First, what prevents species from changing for the majority of their existence? And second, when they do change, how does it happen so fast?

? Turbo-charging scientific discovery.

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7?? Brainworkers

George Orwell’s Animal Farm was published this week, back in 1945.

One of my favourite quotes:

We pigs are brainworkers ... The whole management and organisation of this farm depend on us ... Day and night we are watching over your welfare ... It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples.

Brainwork is hungry work!

? A no-brainer: Why 2020 will see the birth of the ‘trust economy’. 

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If you like this newsletter – please share it with friends, family, and co-workers!

Hope you’ve enjoyed this artisan crafted content, enjoy what’s left of summer in peace and tranquillity,

Adrian

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With thanks to all those folks without whose encouragement and critical feedback this newsletter would never get written.