[AntonioLao]

The bad news is the world is coming to an end. The good news is it won’t happen for another million years. A doctor ready to announce a personalized prognosis asked the anxious cancer patient whether to hear the good news or the bad news first? The response is to hear the bad one first. This psychological preference is related to the economic of decision making concerning gains and losses. The cost of waiting for a favorable outcome is practically zero. But its benefit is like money saved in the bank. The longer it stays the more interest it accrued. However, the cost of waiting for an unfavorable outcome is mentally taxing, draining psychic energy worrying about credit card debts. When people are enjoying whatever they are doing time seems to pass quickly. But a 5-minute wait at the dentist seems to last forever.

The public want for bad news (or good news) is the main reason why newspaper companies used to make billions becoming the wealthiest conglomerates around the world. Nowadays, high speed internet practically took over presenting all the bad news (or good news) instantly at the touch of a finger tip. Furthermore, the arrival of wireless technology had increased the portability and demand for more advanced internet capability, such that a truly wireless internet society is mental telepathy and just short of clairvoyance. Some people do possess the latter kind of mental faculty either as doomsday Sayers or soothsayer visionaries. Churchgoers seem to prefer the latter while stockbrokers prefer the former. For those seers who got the ability to predict both good and bad outcomes, they make tons of money. But the ones who cannot became gamblers of destiny and often end up secluded in asylums.