At Discovery, we are deeply patriotic and believe our beautiful country is deserving of our best efforts to build it. It is my view, however, that we underrate SA and ignore its sizeable potential. Because of this, we limit our future and affect our ability to lift our country for the benefit of all South Africans. We think being negative about SA is an appropriate, conservative and sophisticated response. But it is not. My thinking is neither naive nor emotional — it is grounded in science. Evolutionary biology teaches us that we evolved on the savannahs over millions of years in conditions that were extremely challenging. Life expectancy was about 30 years and infant mortality was high, with one in three babies dying. We faced scarcity and physical threats, necessitating seeking out negative indicators in order to survive because these signals presented imminent harm. As such, we are deeply coded. Our predecessors who failed to read those cues faced the ultimate risk: death. Today...
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