“We are no longer children.”

“Until we change, our government will not.”

The first quote is from a Filipino educator, Preciosa S. Soliven. The other is from an American, Mick Mulvaney. He served in the White House, including acting chief of staff, and in the House of Representatives as a Republican.

If we can refresh our memory, the blog is about “reinventing Juan da la Cruz,” and come January, it will be its fourteenth year.

Am I surprised that despite all these years, we’re still discussing our underdevelopment and confusion about freedom, democracy, and the free market? And why does Rizal assert that we submit to tyranny because we love it?

Unsurprisingly, we can’t get rid of our culture of impunity – because the “slaves” of today will be tomorrow’s tyrants, added Rizal.

The above Soliven and Mulvaney quotes are related. It takes “growing up” to reap the benefits of freedom. And decades since WWII and our declaration of independence from the Americans, we’re still a third-world nation, while our neighbors have attained first-world economies.

Should we stop right there?

Why can’t we grow up?

Or why was a psychologist awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics? Daniel Kahneman’s treatise on “Thinking, fast and slow” expounds on what psychologists call “cognitive bias.”

And our culture of impunity is unsurprising given our instincts: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism and rely on political patronage and oligarchy; ours is a culture of impunity.

The “slaves” of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow.

We got rid of the Americans — only to be replaced by political patronage and oligarchy?

We got rid of the Subic Base — because we saw their tyranny; so, Duterte went to bed with China?

Did we get what China promised beyond their adventurism in the WPS? 

Now we’re scared because they may invade Taiwan – or us – or whoever else in the region.

Are we doing an equivalency between democracy and dictatorship? They are apples and oranges but reveal more than we dare — and why the blog keeps bringing up Rizal.

What is a dictatorship? Take Putin and Xi; don’t they want to be president for life?

And what about democracy? It doesn’t come on a silver platter. It is self-government. And it is as good or as bad as the governed conduct themselves.

Consider: I can choose not to vote in American elections, on the one hand – because I don’t want to submit to the tyranny of the politics; and represent freedom, democracy, and the free market in Eastern Europe, on the other.

Do we know how many are dying in mysterious ways in Russia? Can a Russian say that tyranny resides in Russian politics?

Those familiar with the blog know that we do business in Russia with my Eastern European friends. But between Ukraine and Russia, where is it easier to do business? In earlier posts, I shared how “explosive” the company in Ukraine is, notwithstanding Russia’s invasion. And the Russian company lags by a mile.

And why did both Lee and Mahathir demonstrate more “grown up” characters when they advised Deng – and Juan de la Cruz too – to beg for Western money and technology?

And decades later, we are still manifesting our child-like behavior. Translation: Why can’t we fix the economic barriers we put up ourselves in the Constitution – and instead rely on political patronage and oligarchy?

But it is not only Juan de la Cruz that exhibits cognitive bias. Our economic managers and leadership – national and local – have all thrown their hats into a parochial and insular economic model.

Recall what I said to the CFO at my old MNC company. Bob, those numbers – prescribed by Wall Street to be at par with our competitors – don’t mean a thing if we don’t do our homework.

Surprise, surprise; we proudly declared our economic smarts delivering the World Bank-endorsed metric of 6%-7% GDP growth.

Those numbers don’t mean a thing if we don’t do our homework.

For example, we must ask: Why and how did once cellar-dweller Vietnam leave us in the dust despite our 6%-7% growth? How did they figure out the “vital few” — or Pareto — over the “trivial many”? How did they attract Samsung and Apple?

In other words, as demonstrated by our neighbors, should we beg for Western money and technology to move from a third-world to a first-world economy – because that is the quickest way to move up to an industrialized and developed economy?

Should we not sit on our laurels — EPZA — and instead replicate the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, being the best in class?

Let’s get back to cognitive bias.

Recall that the blog asserted that our economic managers must learn beyond their “day job” – because they are not immune from cognitive bias.

And here’s a quick read on the cognitive bias we all may want to click: Ruhl, C. (2021, May 04). Cognitive bias examples. Simply Psychology. [www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-bias.html]

“Cognitive biases are unconscious errors in thinking that arise from problems related to memory, attention, and other mental mistakes.

“These biases result from our brain’s efforts to simplify the incredibly complex world in which we live. Some of the most common examples of cognitive bias are confirmation bias, hindsight bias, self-serving bias, anchoring bias, availability bias, the framing effect, and inattentional blindness. Another example is the false consensus effect.

“Cognitive biases directly affect our safety, interactions with others, and how we make judgments and decisions in our daily lives.

“Although these biases are unconscious, there are small steps we can take to train our minds to adopt a new pattern of thinking and mitigate the effects of these biases.”

Let’s dig deeper into confirmation bias, which may encourage readers to check out the other “biases.”

“Confirmation bias refers to the tendency to interpret new information as confirmation of your preexisting beliefs and opinions.

“Confirmation bias is also incredibly pervasive on the internet, mainly social media. We tend to read online news articles that support our beliefs and fail to seek out sources that challenge them.

“But why does confirmation bias occur? It’s partially due to the effect of desire on our beliefs. In other words, certain desired conclusions (ones that support our “beliefs”) are more likely to be processed by the brain and labeled as accurate.

“Because our minds can only focus on one thing at a time, it is hard to consider alternate hypotheses, so, as a result, we only process the information that aligns with our beliefs.

“Another theory explains confirmation bias as enhancing and protecting our self-esteem.

“As with the self-serving bias, our minds choose to reinforce our preexisting ideas because being right helps preserve our sense of self-esteem, which is vital for feeling secure in the world and maintaining positive relationships.

“Although confirmation bias has apparent consequences, you can still work towards overcoming it by being open-minded and willing to look at situations from a different perspective.

“Even though this bias is unconscious, training your mind to become more flexible in its thought patterns will help mitigate the effects of this bias.”

Let’s pause and recall why the blog often speaks to the distinctions between (a) logical yet linear and incremental thinking and (b) forward, lateral, and creative thinking.

Those familiar with the blog may know that in my early 20s, with barely two years of experience, I met – up close and personal – Edward de Bono, the father of lateral or creative thinking. My mentor, the late Anacleto del Rosario, brought de Bono to the Philippines to introduce his model to the marketing and advertising community.

I was too green to digest what lateral thinking was all about, but as I gained experience, I would have my “aha moments.” And play out in my head the times I should have recognized the import of de Bono’s treatise.

For example, despite the short ten months – I had under my belt – in my business career, I found myself querying the company’s chief accountant on how it did its planning and budgeting.

I was a new and first-time manager tasked with hiring three subordinates that I figured would be responsible for “systems,” purchasing, and personnel. The company was pretty young, and everything was elevated and decided by the general manager, the two sales managers (for the two lines of business), and the chief accountant.

That was before computers became widespread, and “systems” were still manually, not computer-driven.

It was like yesterday, “The general manager approved upping this year’s budget by ten percent. And all I did was prorate revenues and expenses accordingly,” said the chief accountant.

See above; those numbers don’t mean a thing unless we do our homework.

That has become my mantra – and is why we changed the planning and budget model of my old MNC company. In other words, this 200-year-old Fortune 500 had to learn forward, lateral, and creative thinking, as did my Eastern European friends.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

I’ve been thinking forward, lateral, and creative for over half a century. It’s not a matter of smarts. As neuroscience says, like muscles, we can tone the brain.

And it appears that Mr. Ramon Ang of San Miguel (and Senator Sonny Angara) are moving in the same direction — forward thinking.

Given that I’ve been there many times, I urge the rest of us to follow their lead.

We are no longer children. Until we change, our government will not.

If we can refresh our memory, the blog is about “reinventing Juan da la Cruz,” and come January, it will be its fourteenth year.

Am I surprised that despite all these years, we’re still discussing our underdevelopment and confusion about freedom, democracy, and the free market? And why does Rizal assert that we submit to tyranny because we love it?

Unsurprisingly, we can’t get rid of our culture of impunity – because the “slaves” of today will be tomorrow’s tyrants, added Rizal.

Our challenge is not a walk in the park.

Gising bayan!