Humans evolved to be negative. We can change.

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an adumbration of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here.Today’s Agenda The negativity bias that kept o [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an adumbration of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - The negativity bias that kept our species alive [also gave us Fox News](. But we can change. - Old-order carmakers have contributed to the auto sector’s [$3 trillion market cap](. - Bloomberg Opinion’s [columnists]( [peer]( [into]( [the]( [future](. One Way Being Less Human Could Help Us Cognitively, our species evolved to have a negativity bias. Our ancestors survived all the dangers lurking in the savannas because they were always looking out for anything bad, real or imagined. We inherited this instinct, and today, as Andreas Kluth argues, [what once kept our species alive often keeps us miserable](. It’s bad enough that our predisposition to look for the negative overwhelms our memories of the positive; hurts our relationships; and in general deprives us of a great deal of harmony, happiness and health. Worse, we keep inventing technologies to make our rigged cognitive system even more efficient at being negative. That’s how we got cable news and shock jocks. It’s too late to turn back the clock on technology, and we can’t beat evolution. But Kluth offers some hope. The first step, he says, is to simply notice our negativity bias, then label and interrogate it. This is what Buddhists call mindfulness, and it can help to banish dark thoughts. The next step is to train our minds to resist our built-in propensity for negativity. One way to do this is to schedule five minutes a day, or an hour a week, to consciously evoke a good memory from the past, or a lovable quality in the people around us. Kluth’s resolution for 2022 is “to manage my cognitive negativity bias with some unaccustomed positivity.” Sounds like a great idea. Care to try it yourself? Telltale Charts The global automobile sector, estimated at roughly $1 trillion before the pandemic, is now worth almost $3 trillion: Sure, I hear you say, that’s because of the astronomical valuations for electric-vehicle makers like Tesla and wannabe-Teslas like Rivian and BYD. But as Liam Denning points out, [grand old carmakers have also contributed]( to the spike in the industry’s market cap: Since the beginning of the pandemic, the combined market cap of EV manufacturers has come to rival that of traditional automakers — which have also rallied. In part, that’s because makers of gas-guzzlers are also investing heavily in electric vehicles, which inflates their valuation. The old guard has also benefited from its pricing power at a time of low supply. This can’t last, and the industry’s overall market cap will probably shrink. But the huge disparity in earnings multiples between old and new carmakers gives the former an advantage. As Denning points out, all Ford has to do to be worth five times Ebitda is remain relevant. At 60-plus, the bar is much higher for Tesla. Eat Your Heart Out, Nostradamus Unlike the [16th-century French seer](, Bloomberg Opinion’s columnists don’t need to meditate over a brass bowl of water to forecast what 2022 will bring — and they don’t couch their predictions in obscure quatrains. Continuing our end-of-year series, Ruth Pollard foresees [Asian democracies forging new partnerships]( as U.S.-China tensions mount, while Chris Bryant envisions [a long-overdue reckoning for SPACs]( as financial fundamentals reassert themselves on markets and regulators look more closely at overly optimistic financial projections and conflicts of interest. Stephen Carter warns that [the internet’s carbon footprint will skyrocket](, and matters will not be helped by our growing appetite for high-definition streaming. Anjani Trivedi says continued supply-chain problems will [slow the progress toward safer and cheaper EV batteries](. And a gloomy Gus called Bobby Ghosh prophesies [the imminent demise of the Iran nuclear deal](. Click on those links and you can also read a selection of each columnist’s favorite pieces from the year about to close. (Mine comes with bonus goat content.) Further Reading Giving Amtrak billions to expand is [throwing good money after bad](. — Bloomberg’s editorial board Economists should worry about [how TikTok videos portray their calling](. — Karl W. Smith New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to [keep schools open despite omicron]( is the right call. — Michael R. Strain Tech firms may be as gigantic as the conglomerates of decades past. But [the similarities end there](. — Stephen Mihm A newspaper article 80 years ago marked [Australia’s turn from Britain to the U.S.]( for security. — Daniel Moss ICYMI Mercedes-Benz is the latest [target of Chinese consumer nationalism](. Elon Musk [sold another $1.02 billion of Tesla shares](, closing to his target of reducing his stake by 10%. Apple is trying to prevent defections to Meta with [$180,000 bonuses for top talent](. Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, is dropping hints about [bigger roles for his three children](. Kickers McDonald’s has organized an emergency airlift to relieve [Japan’s french-fry shortage](. It was a great year for golf — just [not golf as you know it](. You may (or may not) agree with our list of the [most annoying new car tech]( in 2021. Want to experience the New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square? [Try the metaverse.]( Notes: Please send goat biryani or goat cheese to Bobby Ghosh at aghosh73@bloomberg.net. 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