After a decade of scientific investigation
about happiness in Peru and in four continents,
one of the things that impresses us most
is the incredible human capacity to dream,
to develop strategies and invest years and decades
to achieve those dreams.
Nevertheless, some of these dreams
will lead to happiness and others to unhappiness,
some will turn out magnificent, some are terrible ideas for society.
Which makes this a crucial question:
Have you thought about what dreams are directing your life?
It is that question that, more than 20 years ago,
Richard Ryan and Ed Deci from Rochester University
asked regarding the American dream.
And they found that, essentially,
it was having money, fame, beauty, etc.
But the few people who achieved this American dream
ended up living a nightmare when it came to subjective well-being.
Mental and physical health declined,
and they were the people that reported being more unhappy
than the ones not achieving that American dream.
This is consistent with worldwide happiness studies,
which introduced a measure of subjective perception of happiness.
The New Economics Foundation might have the best-known study in this line,
and we can see marked in red,
[Worldwide Happiness map (NEF, 2012)]
the most unhappy, miserable countries on the planet -
along with Sub-Sahara Africa,
we can see the self-proclaimed first world countries.
And if we look at the green, yellow and mustard color,
we will find that the happiest region in the world
is Latin America and the Caribbean.
In that context, thanks to the financial support in the past few years
of an IT Consultant in welfare and productivity,
we have studied the dream
that is responsible for this Latin American happiness,
and it is basically family and friends.
Behind this source of happiness,
there is a story that is written in the wiring of our brain,
wires that have grown for thousands and millions of years.
We are not a species with wings to fly
or laser rays or large saber teeth.
What we have is an extraordinary capacity to organize -
joining in families, friends, tribes.
And being inside the tribe was a matter of life or death,
and being outside of your tribe, the opposite.
So our brain got wired in a virtuous cycle,
still alive in our region.
When we have a problem, the stress system is activated,
and a substance called cortisol runs through our nervous system,
and it will knock on the door of oxytocin
to ask for help from our friends and family.
When we find this help, cortisol will reduce;
in other words, our stress goes down and it's going to produce opioids,
meaning we will be happy.
This effect will last for weeks or a few days,
but in Latin America, there will always be a new stressful problem,
we will again find help with our family and friends,
and we'll have a natural virtuous cycle with zero side effects
that could ruin the pharmaceutical industry and drug trafficking.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
This wonder brain circuit is still happening in Latin America,
but in the self-proclaimed developed countries,
when facing a problem, you would say, "Leave me alone."
They don't ask for help, and when they do ask,
it will be awkward, and they won't get it.
This activates a system that generates more depression and unhappiness.
This oxytocin inherently becomes a happiness neurotransmitter
with a long lasting effect and low-level side effects.
More specifically: what is the Peruvian dream?
A prosperous, educated and elegant modern family.
What does elegant mean? That varies from segment to segment.
This is part of the research we do
with the Group of Investigation, Welfare, Culture and Development
of the Catholic University.
Allow me to quickly introduce
our talented, driven team of basically good people,
that step by step are exploring happiness and unhappiness in Peru.
Well, this idea of a prosperous, educated and elegant "cholo chic"
can be an interesting abstract idea,
but in reality it has a crooked side
because education, when we dig deeper,
is basically just having a diploma.
People are not seeking to reinforce their values or identity
and acquire new skills.
Just a diploma.
So that explains,
not only in Peru but rather regionally,
why a horrific plagiarism problem exists:
exams, full monographies, etc.
They get out of school with a diploma, unable to compete by "knowledge"
but will need to find a friend or family that will help them get in,
and then they will owe them a favor in the organization,
and so large mafia rings are created,
but the ring will cross paths sooner or later with another,
and an all-against-all war will begin,
crumbling the company's productivity
and affecting national production.
Then, this crooked side
will make corruption increase,
getting money through good or bad means.
This has been corroborated with the largest study in Peru to date
about identity nationwide,
performed by the Integration Institute of RPP Group,
with whom we participated in the analysis.
And there are two identities: the respectful and educated Peruvian,
not because of his knowledge, but rather because of his good manners;
and the disoriented Peruvian ...
a pandemic.
(Laughter)
The disoriented Peruvian is nice, courteous, etc.
but is not really interested
in a reciprocal relationship of mutual help or respect;
he's rather waiting to seize the opportunity.
And when the other gets ahead,
they will feel miserable because of their envy,
and they will counteract this by undermining the achievements of others -
in the ring, not as much, but also a little -
and he will practice the national sport: gossip.
So, in these circumstances,
we also observe that living in the provinces and having less education
increases the likelihood of being respectful
and reduces the possibility of being disoriented.
This has to do with an ancestral process.
So, when did Peru go to hell?
Science has several answers.
And one of those screwed-up moments of our history
is when migrants from small traditional communities
arrive in large cities like Lima
and are welcomed with an aggressive discrimination.
This activates a phenomenon known as social exclusion.
And this social exclusion will activate the highest alert area of the brain,
which is that of physical pain.
Several studies, this is one of the most recent,
will tell you that when we are socially excluded,
made fun of, marginalized, insulted, or called names,
we will have the same responses as when in physical pain.
What does that cause?
First, it cuts the empathy system,
meaning I'm not going to put myself in someone else's shoes,
and consequently, I won't even greet him,
nor will I be compliant,
and past a certain point,
I will enjoy any harm that comes to him.
So, here we observe
that we have a very complicated problem in our history,
and it's something retroactive
because it generates a disoriented interaction,
where people build new barriers to empathy,
and we have a public, social, work and interpersonal dynamic
away from the ring - terrible.
If this is accurate, what will happen?
The education supply will increase, as a business, not a calling,
and education will be in crisis,
parallel to the growing number of universities and technological institutes.
There will be an increase in consumption,
we will "proudly" beat records in car imports,
especially in the luxury segment,
but we will be fools, clowns,
more disoriented in daily-life interaction.
Now the main question is this:
How do we avoid Peru from getting even more screwed?
(Laughter)
In order to partly answer this question,
we can seek out the places that are truly happy in our territory.
And we can begin with the great fishermen coves,
little areas where touristic and industrial activity is still marginal.
There, families work together
and are the core of the values of work and union.
And families are not more respected because of their wealth, their large TV,
but for the quality of their work and the joint effort of the family.
Then, there's the great small traditional communities in the Andes,
where besides family labor, there is an excellent communal work,
where all neighbors cooperate
in sowing and harvesting the plot of one member of the community
and the following day another plot,
and so there is a collective of families and communities working together,
all participating.
Also, the amazing Amazon communities,
where a mystic balance with nature is kept.
Paradoxically, these are families
that when seeking for progress, for a better education for their children,
will become the discriminated families.
An Amazonian that has traveled eight hours to get to school
will be marginalized even by that same school.
An Andinian who gets to the city
will be mocked by another who lives 400 meters closer to sea level
and will also be marginalized
by his own neighbor who got there a year earlier.
He will no longer be this great communal gentleman
that being honest, working and respecting customs,
will be respected as a citizen,
but will become the filthy indigene.
This, one way or another,
will cause people to find out, unfortunately,
that those values, that happiness is useless,
and that they have to adopt a new pattern,
buying into the great con
that is the ideal of a diploma and money,
well-achieved or otherwise.
This makes it fundamental to reinforce Peruvian values,
not Machu Picchu, not the Nazca lines,
but those magnificent values
from grandfathers and fathers of many of us here,
and integrate these into modernity to achieve these two dreams:
Keeping a good identity, but integrating into the modern world.
Which makes this an interesting question:
What is the happiest place in modern Peru?
We studied large Peruvian cities,
and we systematically found that one of the happiest places
was the Valley of Mantaro.
And the Valley of Mantaro does not have the magnificent architecture of Cuzco
or the splendor of the Andes mountains,
but "Huancas," the local inhabitants.
The "Huanca" has a balance between work and fun.
They work hard but party hard too.
There is not a single day in the year
where there isn't a festival in the Valley of Mantaro.
Second, it is "cholo" power - not a beaten down cholo, right? -
that tells you "Sorry sir, that you came to my ugly village."
Brother, come and have a couple of beers with me!
(Laughter)
Third,
those communities have a deep meritocratic sense.
Any youngster knows that with respect for traditions,
aiding their family, their neighbors, working hard, and being successful,
they will be recognized as good citizens.
This contrasts with the city of Cusco,
one of Peru's unhappiest places,
where you need to have a respectable family also.
And so, there won't be new rich people,
only more new poor people.
So, all this configures the need,
not the luxury or the option,
the need of a national action plan,
a national plan of no less than three years, even seven years,
where the government, the media, the civil society,
the International Cooperation, each one of us in here is involved.
For what?
To rescue traditional values and integrate them into modernity.
And why is this important?
Two simple reasons:
First, this is how we will achieve
our personal happiness and our family happiness.
And, secondly,
so we can avoid this country from being screwed.
(Applause)
[Rapists, narcos and terrorists in the candidates lists]
(Applause)