Change of large complex things like people, countries, religions or cultures tends to happen slowly. And because the change is small we might think they’re not changing at all. Our instinct may be that they can’t in fact change because of their innate characteristics. But the destiny instinct misleads us.

Small change adds up to big changes over enough time. And while things may not seem to change in a week or a month or a year, when you look back over decades huge change can happen. Changes in poverty, live expectancy, economies, women’s rights, or attitudes to homosexuality — things that may have seemed at one time that they were hardly changing at all —  have all transformed when we look back over sufficient time. Change that may not have seemed like it was adding up to much is still change.

Read more from the Roslings: Culture, nations and religions are not rocks — they’re always changing.

And, at a time of the year perfect for reflection, here are 4 ways to control our destiny instinct from Gapminder:

Keep track of gradual improvements. A small change every year can translate to a huge change over decades.

Update your knowledge. Some knowledge goes out of date quickly. Technology, countries, societies, cultures, and religions are constantly changing.

Talk to Grandpa. If you want to be reminded of how values have changed, think about your grandparents’ values and how they differ from yours.

Collect examples of cultural change. Challenge the idea that today’s culture must also have been yesterday’s, and will also be tomorrow’s.

The Destiny Instinct

There are only two double-landlocked countries: Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan. Their claim to fame is that not only are they landlocked with no access to the high seas themselves, but they are also surrounded by countries that are themselves landlocked. Another way to put it is that you have to cross two national boundaries before you can reach water connected to the oceans.

Double-landlocked countries

In direct democracy the people vote directly to create the laws, rules and regulations and such. In representative democracy, the people instead vote to elect a representative, who will then either act directly, or vote with other elected representatives to create the laws, rules and regulations and such. Most democracies are a form of representative democracy as I understand it, with the occasional instance of direct democracy thrown in, as in say, a referendum.

Direct and representative democracy.

Sure the big city is worse than the country. But the reality is back streets in a big city are significantly better than the busy streets in a big city, and air pollution changes massively even for small children down at the height of exhausts versus adults standing higher. So if you’re not about to move to the country you could help yourself a lot nonetheless by taking the back streets (I read this premise in Focus magazine, but can’t find an online link to reference).

Sketchplanations tagged with country