Low Challenge Vs High Challenge ?

Monday 7 November 2022, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Any replies to the organizer - thormay@yahoo.com

Venue: Cafe Brunelli, 187 Rundle St, Adelaide CBD, South Australia

Focus Questions

1. "Life wasn't meant to be easy" [Malcolm Fraser, ex-Australian PM). This is a statement of values. What was Fraser trying to say? Do you agree with him? Why/why not?

2. "Things have always been pretty easy in Adelaide". This was a local explaining Adelaide to me when I first arrived in 2015. If she was right, what are the pluses and minuses of living in a place that is "always pretty easy"?

3. "Choose your battles". [idiom]. Which battles have you chosen in life? Which have your avoided? What battles have been thrust upon you? How has challenge, or its absence, shaped your character?

4. Some people are allergic to physical challenge. Some people hate mental challenge. How can you help them build resilience, or aren't they worth coaxing?

5. "Ride a donkey while looking for a horse". [Chinese idiom: 騎驢找馬 - qílǘzhǎomǎ ] - Well, what's your take on this sage advice? When do you settle for the donkey?

6. In business and politics (maybe in life generally) when you know that someone (e.g. the government) is always going to save you after mistakes or failures, it is called "moral hazard". You can be (fake) brave from a safe place. Think of some examples of how moral hazard has affected individuals, groups, countries, and even whole cultures. e.g. how brave has Australia as a country been?

7. A lot of people get into a war with their own body. For example a man may choose to be "tough" by ignoring known health hazards. He might see challenging nature as a sexy move, and it often earns group approval. It may take a while but nature always wins. For example, my father (Thor) was a tough guy who died of cigarettes, booze and anger at 57. Why do people get hooked on this kind of fake challenge?

8. How can you get ordinary people committed to big, complicated challenges? Simple, clear cut challenges are often seen to be exciting and will attract a large following. Crowds will always cheer a football match. Even a war which seems to pit good against evil, like Putin's war in Ukraine will enjoy huge attention. However, the daily challenges of building happy and prosperous societies are very complex, take many years to work out, and are not in the news. Those complex challenges are far more important than the football matches.

9. What is the social cost to a culture of avoiding talking about all likely disagreements?
For example, there is a pretty common social rule that you should not talk about politics, religion or income. The reason is that your opinion is likely to be challenged. Social harmony is best served by being bland (hence small talk) rather than inviting controversy. Do you feel this way? Can we have spirited disagreement and still be friends? [Note the unpopularity of this meetup :) ]

10. Is it worthwhile to challenge your own lack of talent in certain areas? e.g. If you lack musical aptitude. how long should you persist in trying to learn to play a guitar? If you are a mechanical or mathematical imbecile, should you settle for remaining completely ignorant about those areas of life? I seem to be ungifted at language learning yet i persist in trying to learn Mandarin Chinese. Is this kind of thing pure self-mutilation?

Extra Reading

Nina Evason (2016) "Australian Culture - Core Concepts". SBS @ https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/australian-culture/australian-culture-core-concepts

Miranda Luby (13th June 2017) "Why are Australians so laid back?" BBC @ https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20170607-why-are-australians-so-laid-back

Anonymous (2022) "Where to live in Adelaide, Pros and Cons & Real Estate". LivingInAustralia website @ https://www.livingin-australia.com/adelaide-real-estate/

James Fishkin (Aug. 3, 2018) "Yes, Ordinary Citizens Can Decide Complex Issues
Representative panels of the populace have helped choose energy policy in Texas, constitutional amendments in Mongolia, and other issues in 28 countries". The Wall Street Journal @ https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/yes-ordinary-citizens-can-decide-complex-issues-533310053

Thor May (2014) "Is learning “grit” the best way succeed ?". Passionate Skeptic website @ http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/GritSuccess.htm

Bryan Lufkin (1st April 2017) "50 grand challenges for the 21st Century". BBC @ https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170331-50-grand-challenges-for-the-21st-century

Sally Percy (Aug 7, 2018). "How To Pick Your Battles: Four Key Questions To Ask". Forbes @ https://www.forbes.com/sites/sallypercy/2018/08/07/how-to-pick-your-battles-four-key-questions-to-ask/?sh=15e5b1ac3f56

Hank Pfeffer (n.d.) "The Too Many Aptitudes Problem". Megasociety website @ https://megasociety.org/noesis/138/aptitude.html [Thor, comment: Interesting. The article includes a list of apparently independent and unlearned aptitudes]

Ron Drabkin (August 24, 2015) "Shaping Student Success: Change the Attitude, Improve the Aptitude, Achieve Results". EmergingEdTech @ https://www.emergingedtech.com/2015/08/shape-student-success-change-attitude-improve-aptitude-achieve-results/

Wikipedia (2022) "Agree to Disagree" @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agree_to_disagree

Joseph Wilner (n.d.) "Six Common Reasons People Give-up on their Goals (Plus What to do About it)". You Have a Calling blog @ https://youhaveacalling.com/goals-and-achievement/six-common-reasons-people-give-up-on-their-goals-plus-what-to-do-about-it

Jayne Leonard (September 1, 2022) "What is learned helplessness? - Learned helplessness is a state that occurs after a person has experienced a stressful situation repeatedly. They come to believe that they are unable to control or change the situation, so they do not try — even when opportunities for change become available". MedicalNewsToday @ https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324515#summary

Margarita Tartakovsky (March 28, 2015) "How to Stop Avoiding What Scares or Overwhelms You". Psych Central @ https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-to-stop-avoiding-what-scares-or-overwhelms-you#1

Alan Zimmerman (n.d.) "Don't Try To Avoid Challenges – Learn To Overcome Them". Dr Zimmerman blog @ https://www.drzimmerman.com/tuesdaytip/dont-work-harder-for-success-and-happiness-work-smarter

Lori Gottlieb (2010) "Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough". Good Reads @ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6692099-marry-him

Marquita Herald (Feb 7, 2018) "Once You Settle for Good Enough, You Always Will". Medium @ https://medium.com/@marquita.herald/once-you-settle-for-good-enough-you-always-will-6335fa2abdaa

NBER (April 2016) "Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection in Health Insurance". National Bureau of Economic Research @ https://www.nber.org/digest/apr16/moral-hazard-and-adverse-selection-health-insurance [Quote: "A central challenge in designing health insurance plans is providing coverage that will provide for participants' unexpected health care needs without encouraging unnecessary spending. When insured individuals bear a smaller share of their medical care costs, they are likely to consume more care. This is known as "moral hazard." In addition, when individuals who have a choice among insurance plans select their plan, those who are more likely to require care tend to choose more generous plans"].

Wikipedia (2022) "Moral Hazard". Wikipedia @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_hazard

Pursuit of Wonder (n.d.) "The High Price We Pay For Pursuing the Wrong Things in Life". Youtube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZcWBUZEhME [15 minutes]

Isabelle Rodd (28 October 2022) "Nedd Brockmann: The man who ran across Australia in 47 days". BBC @ https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-63384008 [video short] [Quote: "Nedd Brockmann is a 23-year-old electrician who has just run 3,953 km (2,456 miles) from Perth's Cottesloe Beach in Western Australia to Sydney's Bondi Beach in the east in a staggering 46 days and 12 hours. His unbelievable feat has inspired the nation and raised A$2.5m (£1.4m; $1.6m) for charity".]

Thor May (2010) "Born 1945, Still Running Strong". Passionate Skeptic website @ http://thormay.net/docsite/born1945.htm [2.5 minute video]

Coco Khan ( 29 Oct 2022) "How much money makes you happy? We ask an expert - There is a link between money and happiness, says Prof Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, but it’s much stronger at the bottom of the pay scale". The Guardian @ https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/oct/28/how-much-money-makes-you-happy-we-ask-an-expert

Bronwyn Adcock (31 Oct 2022) "They only had about 30 seconds left’: why cars become death traps in floods - With flooding across the nation, drowning rates are at a 25-year high and driving through floods is a leading cause. So why do people still take the risk?" The Guardian @ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/31/they-only-had-about-30-seconds-left-why-cars-become-death-traps-in-floods

Lindsey Tanner (Nov 02, 2022) "Adversity doesn’t always make you strong: scientists - After traumatic events and crises such as child abuse, gun violence or a pandemic, what explains why some people bounce back, while others struggle to cope?", Taipei Times @ https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2022/11/02/2003788109

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