OPTIMISM

i recently read a book about "why poor people are poor" and how we've tried to help poor people

for the 1/8 of the world classified as malnourished & live on under $1/day, you're inclined to believe that they simply don't have enough resources for food, water, medicine, education (and most other things we in developed countries consider "basic needs")

this is mostly false. the average adult male needs ~2700 calories/day. in even the most impoverished places, you can reach that for (on average) ~33 cents

we are introduced to the concept of a "poverty trap". basically poor people are poor because they believe no matter what they do they'll still be poor. so they don't change anything. and stay poor.

a few examples

• instead of spending money on more calories, they buy better tasting calories (biscuits, sweets).
• instead of investing in medicine (ex: malaria nets, doctors, deworming pills), they choose not to. they've seen people go to doctors and still die. so why go anyways?
• why send your children to school when they could provide for the family by working on a plantation?

or worse, tradition - expensive weddings & funerals, jewelry, ceremonies

a "starving" moroccan man & his family are unable to find work during the harsh summer. yet, they have a full-color 80 channel television in their living room

why not sell the tv and buy food? on first thought, this seems completely rational

when asked,

"television is more important than food"

people usually do not want to live in unmediated reality (even in the face of suffering). to members of the elevated gentry (with access to doordash & machines of limitless dopamine) we would like to be stimulated. "normal" reality = boring

most people also don't want to hear the truth. yes, ignorance is generally frowned on. but most people don't get a fuzzy feeling upon learning their partner has cheated on them, they were fired from a job, or their 100th marketplace startup idea is not that great

beyond living in a stimulated reality, we actually just want to escape reality entirely

television, vacations, dreams, relationships, instagram reels. we want to forget everything & escape our miserable "normal" realities

if guaranteed to live to 100 years in a blank room with only basic needs met (by whatever your definition is), most people would not. in fact, they are usually appalled by the idea

what life is worth living where nothing more than basic needs are met?

if he sold his tv, what kind of life would he continue to live? sure, he's not starving. but what more would there be to existence?

i don't think the poverty trap was ever about a lack of resources.

i have recently adopted the belief that optimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

we are likely all in our own "poverty traps"

if you can change your perception of what's possible,

your reality (eventually) changes with it.