Hans Rosling's answers to the TED and Reddit community interview

[crudhousefull]

So few people have a more holistic view of life and the world than this gentleman. Mr. Rosling is one of the very very few people I respect in this world (that I've seen or hear from obviously lol).

[Samoaqueen]

He really likes that shirt :D

[axelasdf]

The "Global Government" comment at the start turned me off to the video immediately. I like sovereign competing states. "Friends with all, but allies with none".

[descendantdan]

@axelasdf

We face global problems, sovereignty is barley extant in a world where corporations have bigger balance sheets than governments, this is a fact we cannot change so we must adapt our modes of thinking to create new solutions.

What we do need to do is a address the problem of the massive increase in population and have a unified response to global warming or as a civilization and maybe even a species our time will soon run out.

[axelasdf]

@descendantdan

You don't realize that the global problems are individual problems. This will only come out of changing minds, not pointing the gun of governments at their people and each other.

[sabisabiti]

this is crazy. your data is amazing. but it would be nice if it doesn't come with the propaganda behind it. but the solutions are totally skewed. just sounds like the idea is to still keep the top at the top and the bottom at the bottom. just at a "better" level. aid is no good except for emergencies. ppl want to matter and want to learn to create and make things possible for themselves and others. not be permanent recipients (usually at the expense of themselves).

[gyuceturk]

@ 8:12 - 17:51 nice answer

[agontubes]

LOL @ 11:18 - 12:20

[davidesposito1]

i hope they have a blog to alert people when they start providing things to schools ..

[davidesposito1]

i disagree...the U.S. does compte in health care

[davidesposito1]

i want to see statistics on life satisfaction relative to health care.

[ARISPREVEZA]

I would like to make a honest question to any American:

is the word "socialism" combined necessarily with negative meaning?

the reason I'm asking (and I'm not taking sides now) is that in Europe, even within countries, public opinion is divided. (for example, everything shows that the next gov. here is going to be socialistic but many of the people are disappointed in it for not being socialistic enough)

[Shinsei01]

To certain segments of the American population, yes it is. This segment is mostly of the older generations who lived through the cold war with Russia.

Rightly or Wrongly many view it this way.

Socialism = Old Soviet Union

Capitalism = United States

Socialism is the antithisis of Capitalism to many of the older generation and so its use conjures a negative emotions for those with this world view.

[addicted2rpg]

International collaboration is good. World government is bad (yet one could easily lead to the other). If we had a world government and at some point it goes sour or tyrranical -- in our generation or another --, exactly where could one emmigrate to so they could get away from it? Leave the planet?

Many difference places with many different systems, so that we can learn from eachother and celebrate our diversity is the way to go. I shudder to think of a central world gov.

[nazg55]

isn't it "prime minister" Putin?

[ks1212]

Hans rocks!

[dapnd]

the reason life expectancy is raised in emerging countries is simple - knowledge is easy to export.

[princeofexcess]

americans also have unhealthy life style! you cant use life expectancy to deduce how good health care is. People might be living horrible lives and getting great health care but they still going to die... example if everybody drinks and smokes and has dangerous jobs no matter what health care they receive if they all have cancer and accidents they still not going to live long. People in US are fat and have heart problems! also dont live healthy life styles!

[DSBrekus]

Meh, Canada has a similar lifestyle to the united states, and spends 9.8% compared to the U.S 15%.

And for those who think that canada has worse healthcare, the graph shows that canadians live 2 years longer than americans.

I got this from reproducing his graph on the same site

[princeofexcess]

what do you mean similar? In what way? plus whats the percentage of fat people in canada? Stats from nationmaster (dont know how reliable this is) state US as number 1 while canada on 11th place this is huge difference. They have less then half of fat people then USA ! And canada has worse doctors worse equipment and higher w8ting period then USA. US has second best w8ting period and best equipment in the world and doctors.

[DSBrekus]

I mean in the way that they are neighbours, they share many similarities I mean its the biggest friggin border in the world lol many canadians go to america and vice versa, they are different in many ways but the culture is more similiar then people may want to admit.

I very much doubt canada has "worse doctors worse equipment and higher w8ting period then USA"

Based on the fact that canadians apparently live longer it seems that perhaps it is more of a question of access then "quality".

[princeofexcess]

higher w8ting period is a statistic... Google it if you dont believe me W8ting period comparison for care. Equipment and doctors is much harder to compare because data is harder to come across. However doctors in USA make 50 gran more then in canada. So if you want to make more and can get hired why not? countries that pay most to their employers usually have best employees my dad moved because he was good enough and could get payed more here then in US.

[DSBrekus]

Yes but the issue is that all the extra money spent on healthcare in the U.S seems to not have a positive impact compared to countries that spend less and gain more.

[princeofexcess]

It seems and it doesnt is a separate thing. Imagine that survival rate in US for cancer is much higher then in other countries. however because people dont take care of themselves in USA most of them will get cancer while in other countries almost noone will get cancer. Which country will have higher life expectancy? Even if in other countries everybody that gets cancer will die and in US only 1/3 will still US can have lower life expectancy. It doesnt mean it has worse health care

[princeofexcess]

Another reason why healthcare is more expensive in USA is because of people suing. This increases the cost of the surgeries and costs for the hospitals. So person isnt getting better care but he has to pay for all the lawyers the hospital needs to get l8ter. This can be fixed with fixing the court system BUT not through changing the health care system.

[princeofexcess]

and so what that they neighbors. Poland is neighbor to check republic. 95% of polish people are catholics in check 59% of the country is agnostic, atheist, a non-believer or a non-organized believer. And we have more similar climate then Canada and US. I know people that experience culture shock after coming to US from canada so i doubt its so similar after all. Its hard to compare unless you have real data. Like how many people drink how much have dangerous jobs. etc

[WhiteTiger333]

Very, very cool! I've bookmarked gapminder - so much to explore. What a creative way to present global trends - thank you!

[thepat30]

haha at 12:10

"don't give too much credit to older males... they often haven't done everything you think they've done"

[piotrezzz]

Got to love his comment concerning nerd crushes.

[Aussiemoo]

lol

"sometimes you have to read books also, and not only reddit"

[pinochet222]

I really like this new way of thinking that you're promoting.

But what about going 3D?;)

[Traffordsgoogle]

Hans, you are an inspirational guy, and a cool dude ;-).

[RAZZLE69DAZZLE69]

cont

Americans citizens are slaves to big business.RIP the land of the brave!and dont get me wrong, i love america and americans.i just hate how your goverments have been raping you.back in the 50s, Globally EVERYONE wanted to be america and now what?Main street not wall street.farmer markets not wal mart.making consumer goods not making war and war goods!

[RAZZLE69DAZZLE69]

to those people defending the US healthcare system.

just look at the statistics for the percentage of people happy with their health service or theres one which shows the percentage of people who feel they have value for the money spent.imo, i dont think theres any excuse for the USA's healthcare status.

[marsCubed]

RAZZLE69DAZZLE69,

It is not Government which is the prob, it is the right and centre constantly letting in unelected corps which damages government.

What these figures don't show is that the wealthiest states waste most tax as unnecessary expensive treatments for the richest part of the population.

Insurance corps rip everyone off, they are nasty to deal with and have absolutely no concern for people on lower incomes.

Medicine should work to make itself obsolete, not to feed corps with $.

[timabad]

8:01

[libanlibanliban]

I love this guy and his stats!!!

[engRyan]

Enough about blamming immigrants or saying the states doesn't have as much of a homogeneous population as switzerland. Canada has a far more diverse population and we spend less have unliversal healthcare and beat the states in nearly any stat for health care. Same with France who has a large immigrant population.

[bajan13k]

"let there be flash in schools" nice mantra.

[didate]

Good data, however, the population is in US is not as homogeneous as Switzerland's "pure breed", given the immigration stats and other factors, including it's multi-ethnicity. Huh? composition.

[doloppost]

Hans Rosling for president! :)

[mooktank]

Well life expectancy is not the ONLY metric for evaluating healthcare effectiveness. It is important and quite strange how much the US spends on its healthcare.

[DerEchteSenf]

Putin? Is he still president?

[pirejknf]

no he is now the prime minister

[bhamel2000]

I believe what is lacking is the definition of statistics, for example, Life Expectancy, this can be misleading because it also includes the people that die at birth, so if 1 person lives to 100 years old and baby dies at birth, life expectancy for country is then 50 years old...Where someone reading the statistic might tend to believe people in that country become old at 45 and usually die around 50.

[Maxstate]

You are awesome, Mr. Rosling.

[Mrwrinkleintime]

...ZUMA ?... You have got to be fucking nuts,,, Damn!!!

[elboertjie]

I disagree with your first answer: we do not need a global governance, we need healthy independent states.

What we see in the world now in forms of wars and sanctions is due to people forcing their agenda on other people.

[Inferno41]

With respect, I think your approach is backwards: Global governance would emphasize cooperation, would it not? If anything, wars and sanctions are a by-product of a world of competitive nations, nations at enmity. INDEPENDENT nations.

[martijnenco]

america start wars! not other countries!

[elboertjie]

Agreed, thanks to their terrorist organisation called CIA.

[martijnenco]

i think it's more somethinf like the mafia...

[BRAINONBOARD]

THE LORD says that you Armageddon is no name for a becoming a closer community of suppressing spiders!!!!

[BinaryReader]

Dear playeren, CUDA will be useful in processing large data sets in parallel using modern dedicated compute hardware,

CUDA has little to do with visualization, rather, it will be useful for producing the data.

Visualizations are graphics specific, so Flash, Silverlight, GDI, WPF, DirectX, OpenGL and a myriad of other technologies will facilitate that.

[muzzleray]

Fantastic presentation, absolutely stunning, I enjoyed your TED lecture, but this is truly inspiring.

I find it difficult even to get the admin folks of my world even to acknowledge things like YouTube or TED even exist.

Never mind ever onwards.

I imagine medical research for cancers and Multiple sclerosis and many more gaining greatly from the way things are presented in gap minder.

and I still think you wrote it all code and everything, you're just being modest.

many thumbs and koala stamps

[richyli]

This is a brand new way to teach globally! Great!

[pcuimac]

Climate change will happen and the governments will do nothing but kill us of. They only think in terms of money and workplaces. It´s sad but taht is what history teaches us.

After a short 60 years of peace in Europe the much needed slowing of the economy will plunge us into the abbys of the resource wars. We will plunge back into the 18th century.

We live in "The Age of Stupid". And can only change if millions in the west change their lifestyle. How big of a chance has that?

[BaileysBeads]

This is excellent!

I would love to see a series of this. Hans is the best vlogger of Youtube.

[smerten]

Takk for fin video Hans!

[martinskruze]

Putin is not president of Russia, he is primeminister now.

[lachlanhannan]

haha thats what Putin wants you to think

[Yamakashi1]

hahahah

[chemlin]

Yeah. What an ignorant man. Or freemason,puppet.

do you know what globalization means? O'yeah, new world order.

Yes, lets get the world united using the word HOPE. Jeez.

This guy is buying all the propaganda news. Talk about sheeple.

Come on people.. Do you really think the world is going in the right direction?

Oh,and btw,lets trust Statistics. Because thats very trustworthly.Just like Al core's deceiving documentary movie. "An inconvinient truth" But truth is lies in this case.

[straightsixstyle]

In what direction do you want the world to go?

[priceandpride]

Hans is hilarious. Keep making videos dude

[spikesmth]

I grew up in Silicon Valley, it was a cruel trick played on me. All through school I was told I could make millions by starting a simple internet company, but a year before I finished HS, the bubble burst and even tech jobs/internships were hit and the dream was crushed.

I've showed Gapminder to some of my professors, they've enjoyed it!

[agriss2009]

Oh geez.. I am Brazilian.. are you sure you want to trust Lula to take wise decisions? "They have (he has) to act decently..", something he's not very good at..

[doedicurus]

where does he get "total fertility" on the chart at gapminder? I can only find "child per woman" which only goes back to 1950.

[marianopicco]

Hans uses Opera!! hell yeah :D

Anyway, very interesting video as usual. I love this guy and the way he explains things, even if i'm studying something that has nothing to do with sociology and economics and trends...

[digy1st]

Very enlightening. I thought I'll just have a peek at this video and ended up watching the whole thing.

[Radjehuty]

I think the argument on health care spending correlated with life expectancy has some weaknesses. His data didn't portray the fact that Sweden is so much more homogeneous than the United States. Plus the United States has far more people and there's huge differences within the country. I think it's just too simplistic.

Though I do agree our health care system is seriously flawed, that's not the point though.

[mochasm]

Good point, but one could argue that being homogenous may actually pose more genetic risks....

[seraphknits]

It's not the genetic homogeneity to which he refers, but to culture. The Swedish culture is much more cohesive than the American one in part *because* of the genetic similarities.

But there's nothing that makes an American willing to agree with another American simply because they live in the same general area like with the Swedes.

[Radjehuty]

Thanks for clarifying for me. Yes I was referring to cultural homogeneity as that includes any racial variability in the definition.

I also think it's an interesting point about our perceived inability to come to any consensus even within the culture itself. This is actually both an American strength as well as weakness. It has a knack for generating huge varieties of ideas, but also at the same time slow to implement.

Kudos to both of you though :)

[mathmexican4234]

The US spends so much money because the system allows it to go into the hands of a few greedy bastards, who in turn use the extra money to strengthen their hold on the system. People are either too ignorant, powerless, or corrupt for the system to change anytime soon.

[frederickfarrell]

Fantastic! thankyou for answering all of those. You're an inspiration. I have passed your videos on to teachers that I know. Data Data Data!

[Boognish64]

Does a statistics class actually exist in high-schools in the united states? In my high-school it went from Algebra 1 (or core math) to Geometry, and then if we wanted we could go on to Algebra 2 Trigonometry, then to pre-Cal. and AP Calculus (think AP calculus was taught at the university though).

[straightsixstyle]

I had a Stat class when I was in HS (10 years ago) and it was my favorite math class. This was at the tail end of Clinton's second term... Since Bush, that class has been removed along with all electives except for foreign language and band. I still use and love statistics to this day and think it should be a mandatory class in every HS.

[grraadd]

yea global rule and the global bureaucracy of Swedish style socialists....... run aground your own country first and then we will see the results and maybe consider those utopian ideas - if we'll loose our mind first!

[ChillpointNews]

Swedish socialists? HAHAHA! I love when outsiders calls us swedes socialists, communists and what not. It never gets old.

[grraadd]

I didn't say Swedes, but Swedish (as a country which is badly socialized...) And most of it's citizens are slaves of the bureaucracy - nanny state. "1984" in action... Like Russians, only they never were free so they've got just handful of intellectuals knowing the idea of freedom.

[Elephantintheroom01]

I think your both right, Britain is a socialist country and we are successful because many tragedies are prevented. However it does lead to a 1984 centralised nanny state and i believe that people should be given greater freedom and allowed to be self sufficient. That is; they should choose to help their neighbours not because theres a system of coercion and force, but because they choose to.

[ChillpointNews]

You are wrong grraadd. And it's just ridiculous to compare Sweden to Russia, they are both very different states. It's also ridiculous to compare Britain and Sweden. Look at Britain, you have really strained your freedom to a table as you have the new and fresh pedophelia law, the CCTV cameras, police officers everywhere. Sweden is nothing like this. Fine, let's call Sweden a socialist country - but compare socialism to the right winged dominance in the US. What's best? That's an easy one.

[Juangui123]

Your comments are not only ridiculous, but also relevant because gives a notion of how rightwing propaganda distort reality. Sweden, Denmark and Finland (which are well known to be nanny state) are top 4, 5, 6 in the world in competitiveness. The bureaucracy is far less than in USA (in all levels), and we dont have a police state like in 1984, like in USA right now. Get the facts right and then you talk. The socialist Switzerland (healthcare and education are free) is top one in the world.

[Aliothemage]

Actually Switzerland's economy is more free then that of the US. They actually have the 4th freest economy according to the Frazer Institute's Economic Freedom of the World Report. It is in part due to this freedom that they are so successful.

[tjockisgurra]

Slaves to bureaucracy...? your talking out of your arse. Badly slocialized?! Oh and I thought that free healthcare and free education was a good thing... And now, since sweden is paying for the rebuilding of your shit country.... FIX MY SINk BITCH!!!

[grraadd]

there is NOT such thing like a free lunch....

You don't know who said that and that's why you are believing in socialist fairy tales. Wake up - educate yourself about economy and history instead of watching TED - 70% of pure socialist propaganda...

And don't be offended - I was a slave too... well I'm in EU, so technically I'm still a slave :-(

[tjockisgurra]

Where the F do you get off comparing Sweden to the Soviet union? And 1984? It just shows your lack of insight...

[ch0p86]

This man is a world treasure, everyone can learn alot from him

[Elephantintheroom01]

10:08 But the US has a much larger population and has been at war non stop since the 1940's.

If you go to the map function you'll see that Africa is mostly blue, but thats probably because they don't spend any of their money on their health care system.

I think that you may be using these statistics beyond their level of use.

[grraadd]

he is using some government data saying that there is 9% unemployment rate, but the real unemployment in US is 17%..... plus small business waiting for better times (until they've got resources). funny guy

[Elephantintheroom01]

Its ok dude, i understand. Us intelligent ones can start a thumbs down club and ignore the rest of these bell curves.

They'll all feel sorry when their swine flue vaccination kills them because they know nothing of statistics save what the government and media corporations tell them.

[mkarnerfors]

Victim of Dunning-Kruger...

[Elephantintheroom01]

There is only one mechanism at work here;

Those that have seen the video and those that have not yet seen the video.

[mkarnerfors]

So what you're trying to tell me the truth about a well hidden, world spanning conspiracy is in a YouTube video...

They just don't make conspiracies like they used to huh?

[Elephantintheroom01]

Thank you for responding with intelligence.

I think of it in terms of not how well hidden it is, but by exactly how many people look in that direction.

I don't believe in aliens, lizard men, god etc. But i do believe in evidence, when the evidence fails to live up to accepted theories or is conspicuous by its absence then I begin to ask whom this benefits and even the investigating statutory organisations are not above suspicion.

[mkarnerfors]

Tell me one single conspiracy of this magnitude that was ever exposed, confirmed and reached wide public consensus of its truth, by a bunch of guys with webpages and YouTube videos.

Just one... please.

And while you're busy staring yourself blind at fairy stories... the governing people of the world are passing you right by... you don't even care... don't even notice because you're obsessing about some supersecret kabal noone else except a handful of dudes with webpages care about.

[mkarnerfors]

Seriously... doesnt' it worry you that in 50, 60, 70 years... you'll be sitting at your retirement residence, thinking back about this time, at teh turn of the century, and ponder about how nutty you acted?

Or will you be going "Oh they're still out there... they are nurse, I'm not crazy or senile! They are out there and have been for 100 years now! And only *I* know about it!"?

Doesn't that worry you the least?

[Elephantintheroom01]

Your so clever.

[Elephantintheroom01]

I can tell you several. But you have to accept that not even the 'theory' of evolution has a 'wide public consensus'.

Look up: - Reichstag fire - Gulf of Tonkin - Enron - And maybe the US federal reserve.

[mkarnerfors]

And which one of these things were revealed by an average Joe with the equivalent of a web page and YouTube videos?

[Elephantintheroom01]

Why does it need to be? They are just publicised. Ill never satisfy your expectations.

[mkarnerfors]

With what you have shown? Mo, not really. Webpages and YouTube videos has no evidence value and you know it. For all I knowm you(!) could be a influence agent trying to distract me from what's happening in the world by leading me on wild goose chases. What makes you, or the "evidence" you try to point at credible?

And the big question: what would it take to have *you" say "Ok, so I was wrong. There is no conspiracy". What could possibly do that? Say "nothing" and you'll say it all.

[Elephantintheroom01]

Q1 - Its video evidence, historical fact and its logical; you can't possibly say that conspiracies don't exist. So you have to admit that some exist even at the moment.

Q2 - I believe that the government, corporations and secret services take actions in their own favour which deliberately degrade civil liberties, cause death, and push the world closer to a centralised government which they have agreed to run.

Im not sure its possible to disprove this.

[mkarnerfors]

A1: Conspiracies *may* exist, yes, agreed.

A2: Your belief is that, and that alone: belief. You can believe whatever the heck you want as far as I'm concerned but belief is many steps away from proof and reality.

Draw a very sharp line between what you *believe* and what you *know*. differ between reality and fantasy. never mix up the two.

If you cannot or will not keep them separated, I suggest you seek professional help.

[Elephantintheroom01]

The list of 4 different cases is incontrovertible evidence for my hypothesis, thank you.

Now you are at the stage where you can either refute the evidence or go back to sleep. This is precisely the stage which got me into critiquing other people conspiracies. (i produce no videos of my own.)

My experience is that many people cannot face the fact that conspiracies exist because it would effect their life. A good citizen of a democracy should always be willing to research to find the truth.

[Elephantintheroom01]

I didnt say those things and two of those are contemporary conspiracies.

I say to myself: do we really have to wait for the perpetrators to come clean before we are sure? Usually thats long after the incident, when people had an ability to influence the outcome.

But no, the Reichstag ended in the construction of the third rich and WW2, the gulf of Tonkin ended with the US being pushed out of Vietnam. Many innocent people died.

[julian1000]

You, sir, are a complete moron. Any logical arguments made bounce off you because you have a moron force field.

[vee4free]

Putin isn't president of Russia anymore, its Medvedev.

[grraadd]

technicalities...

[Kreadus005]

Ahahahahahaha...

Yeah. Sure he isnt

[frederickfarrell]

isn't Medvedev more of a figurehead President though, with Prime Minister Putin running the show? Still, You're right in that he did get the title wrong.

[playgrrrr]

how does he get that unempoyment graph from google?

[Elephantintheroom01]

Globalism PAH!

You may understand that data needs to be instantaneously shared like some huge relational database, but you don't know a thing about power.

The best thing for the individual is irrefutably, and always has been, self sufficiency.

Centralisation results in bureaucracy which is itself wasteful. Leadership has to find methods to control its people and will invariably settle on force to some degree and an acceptable loss of human resources.

WAKE UP!

Search: Builderberg.

[mkarnerfors]

Elephantintheroom01: The conspiracy theory about the Bilderberg group was created by Phyllis Schlafly, a nutcase of a woman who thinks that women should not be given equal rights to men but should rather be getting "dependant wife" benefits from Social Security. She also spoke strongly against the US and the Soviet Union agreeing to stop the nuclear arms race.

If you believe anything that nutjob says about a secrect society of dudes running everything behnind the scene... the joke's on you.

[Elephantintheroom01]

I don't know where you get your information from but there are videos of world leaders meeting up in secret. You can clearly see their faces and the fact that the news has never heard anything of them is evidence of a cover-up.

Please dont respond as if you are so sure of yourself. You clearly havent researched the truth, you have stopped when it was convenient.

[mkarnerfors]

"Please dont respond as if you are so sure of yourself."

Well look who's talking...

[amsunaakage]

To Hans Rosling :

Thank you for this very nice video.

[spinynorman1982]

Finding the Google public data site is not as easy as typing "unemployment rate" in the Google search bar. For some reason I had to manually type the website for public data from this video in my address bar. Does anybody have an answer to why this is?

[sensori]

It may be in beta.

[rgfuller2]

Do you have actual data to support your view on climate change?

[kittykattykoo]

Thanks so much! ^_^

[apekris]

Hans - Lets not get too gung-ho about commercially owned Flash, since the new HTML standard will achieve the same visual objectives of dynamic data presentation :)

[GuyTM]

that's numberwang!

[kittykattykoo]

Where can I download that software please?

[jacooney]

Yeah! Great Video!

[studio7manga]

The healthcare system in the US is depressing. But too many people buy into the propaganda and the politicians are beholden to the corporations for campaign finance because we don't have public funding for elections either. It's mostly due to way too much market worship.

[BitchslapMonk]

one word... socialize. A message from your friend, a Canadian.

[studio7manga]

Duh, it's a matter of doing it that's the problem.

[BitchslapMonk]

good point. And also the socio economic landscape of the US, presents a problem. How do you convince the rich to support the poor through taxes if theres no benefeit for them? Regardless, no one deserves to die, based on their credit card score, or insurance plan.

[neroclavd321]

Thank you for interesting disscusion.

[dakotamorgany106]

indeed.

[d3v07]

Awesome!

[AlsanaAziz]

Excellent!