HopeForCynics

• http://wiki.keithl.com/HopeForCynics

Hope For Cynics

The Surprising Science of Human Goodness

• Jamil Zaki . 2024 . 149 ZAK . Beaverton Library

• Dr. Zaki is professor of psychology at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab

This book is difficult to read in brief snatches. The author full-names many people once, then mentions them by first name many pages later. Not all are indexed ... who is "Megan?"

Index by FIRST NAME FIRST MENTION

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• Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the couch and clutch, feeling lucky.
• It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency.
• -- Rebecca Solnit

• p001 Introduction

• p001 Emile Bruneau died 2020 age 47

• p001 Peace and Conflict Neuroscience Lab at U. Penn. Annenberg School for Communication (cannot find)
• p003 Emile's mother schizophrenic, but "She never let any of the darkness touch me"
• p004 Cynicism ... is a seductive worldview, dark and simple. Too simple, really to explain much of anything.

• p004 General Social Survey began in 1972

• p005 In 1972, 50% agreed that "most people can be trusted", only 33% agreed in 2018.
• p005 52% trusted president in 1970s, 23% in 2022. Newspapers 39% to 18%. Public schools 58% to 28%
• p007 Media's product is cynicism.
• p008 Nietzche called hope "the most evil of evils because it prolongs man's torment"
• p009 Cynicism is a lack of faith in people, skepticism is a lack of faith in our assumptions.

• Section I: UNLEARNING CYNICISM

• p015 Chapter 1. Signs and Symptoms

• p015 Mycroft Holmes more talented, but "no ambition and no energy" and a disdain for humanity

• p016 Mycroft Holmes co-founded Diogenes Club

• p018 "big-C Cynicism" opposite of misanthropy and "small-c cynicism"

• p017 the real Diogenes helped people and would despise the Diogenes Cl]][[ub.

• p017 Three statement test:
  • (1) No one cares much what happens to you.
  • (2) Most people dislike helping others.
  • (3) Most people are honest chiefly through fear of getting caught.

• p018 Cook and Medley: Worse teachers agreed with these statements. They are a "cynicism detector".

• p020 adolescent cynics more likely depressed, drink and divorce in and after college
  • cynics earn less, more heart disease, die sooner
• p020 Finland 58% trust, France 18% trust
• p021 High trust nations grow GDP faster
• p025 Dining out, bring Tupperware rather than single use plastic from restaurants (?)

• p025 autarkeia self-sufficiency

• p026 Self-Reliance 1841 essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson

• p026 Stanford's Geoff Cohen

• p027 people who affirm their values become more open to contradictory infomation
• p028 Zaki was jealous of others, birth of daughters overwhelmed worries about social status

• p029 Chapter 2. The Surprising Wisdom of Hope

• p030 valorize: enhance value
• p030 cynics wise less often, poor at identifying liars

• p031 the cynical genius illusion

• p031 real wisdom when people know what they don't know. Think more like a skeptical scientist, less like a accusing lawyer

• p032 cynics prone to conspiracy theories, skeptics less prone
• p032 Author is suspicious skeptic - low faith in people, high faith in data

• p035 The Fall of the Cabal

• p039

• p042

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• p046 Chapter 3. Preexisting Conditions

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• p060

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• p065 Chapter 4. Hell Isn't Other People

• p069

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• p079 Chapter 5. Escaping the Cynicism Trap

• p079

• p080

• p084

• p089

• p091

• p092

• Section II: REDISCOVERING ONE ANOTHER

• p097 Chapter 6. The (Social) Water is Just Fine

• p097

• p100

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• p110

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• p113

• p114 Chapter 7. Building Cultures of Trust

• p115

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• p118

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• p123

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• p125

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• p129

• p130 Chapter 8. The Fault in Our Fault Lines

• p130

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• p136

• p138

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• p139

• p142

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• p144

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• Section III: THE FUTURE OF HOPE

• p151 Chapter 9. Building the World We Want

• p153

• p154

• p154

• p155

• p157

• p160

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• p165

• p168 Chapter 10. The Optimism of Activism

• p171

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• p183

• p185 Chapter 11. Our Common Fate

• p185

• p191

• p200 Epilogue

• p205 Acknowledgements

• p209 Appendix A: A Practical Guide to Hopeful Skepticism

• p213 Appendix B: Evaluating the Evidence

• p217 Chapter Claim Ratings

• p225 Notes

• p263 Index

• p263 Emile Bruneau