More secure but more fearful.

I came across with this article recently and I have considered interesting just to show you a couple of paragraphs and the link to the whole one. I hope you find it interesting too.

Humanity has never had it so good. Most people around the world are better off and will live longer than their ancestors. If we could hold on to that perspective, we would all be much more relaxed. But we aren't relaxed. We are anxious and stressed. We are scared that bad things will happen to us: nuclear war, cancer, child abduction. As for keeping things in perspective, Homo sapiens just isn't cut out for it, as Dan Gardner explains in Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear

Gardner elegantly summarises the results of psychological research proving that people's visceral 'fight-or-flight' reactions always elbow their rational calculations out of the way. Crucially, this happens even when the subjects are instructed to ignore their emotional responses. It happens to everyone, including psychology professors. So - clever clogs - if you think you don't believe everything you see on TV, it doesn't matter. Your Stone Age brain has processed the images and is using them to shape your opinions whether you like it or not.

Sunday March 9, 2008
The Observer