Agreed. I'm always surprised when people get away with this kind of blinkered panglossian pap. There is simply no evidence that as a species we're happier, mor

Agreed. I'm always surprised when people get away with this kind of blinkered panglossian pap. There is simply no evidence that as a species we're happier, more secure, etc than generations past. Every advance we enjoy seems to come with a trade-off, as evidenced by the new findings about loneliness/alienation, rich-poor inequality, environmental degradation, what have you. Even the elephant graph stuff can only talk about a time period that starts centuries after a huge amount of the world came under the yoke of colonialism.