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Hope is a bad thing?

People often say things like “At least he has some hope”, assuming this is obviously a good thing. This NYT magazine article begs to differ:

Prisoners with life sentences but with the possibility of parole adapt less well to prison life, for example, than prisoners with life sentences without the possibility of parole. … The research team … tracked people who had portions of their colons removed or bypassed, such that the patients couldn’t defecate normally. The condition is extremely unpleasant and leads many people to say they’d rather be dead. … But a colostomy isn’t always permanent. Some patients are likely to heal and have their bowels reconnected. . Were it up to the patient to choose, “almost anybody would choose temporary over permanent,” Ubel says.

So it’s surprising that the permanent-colostomy patients ended up happier six months after the operation than the temporary group, whose members were still holding out hope. …

See full article. Link via overcoming bias which goes on to make this interesting statement:

Tyler says people can be happier in a caste society, where the lack of mobility means no one can blame your position on your lack of effort.

McDonald’s = small businesses

Did you know this?

McDonald’s exemplifies the role of small businesses in Americans’ upward mobility. The company is largely a confederation of small businesses: 85 percent of its U.S. restaurants — average annual sales, $2.2 million — are owned by franchisees. McDonald’s has made more millionaires, and especially black and Hispanic millionaires, than any other economic entity ever, anywhere.

Source. 

Improving traffic by removing traffic rules

Towns in Europe are trying innovative ways innovative ways of handling traffic on their roads:

The usual remedies — from safety crossings to speed traps — did no good. So the citizens of Bohmte decided to take a big risk. Since September, they’ve been tearing up the sidewalks, removing curbs and erasing street markers as part of a radical plan to abandon nearly all traffic regulations and force people to rely on common sense and courtesy instead.

As far as I can tell, we have implemented this system in Pune already.