2 ms·

Look at basically any metric over the last 100 years and there will be an astonishing amount of improvement - Extreme poverty - Literacy - Life expectancy -

Look at basically any metric over the last 100 years and there will be an astonishing amount of improvement - Extreme poverty - Literacy - Life expectancy - Access to medicine - #People living in democracies - Access to clean water - Access to food - General standard of living - Air quality - ... Meanwhile some people think (and others trying to make it look like) we're living in desperate times and are worse off than 50 years ago.

DoughnutHole 5y ago
It's very clear that the quality of life for the average human is better than it has been at any other time in history, and that we've been on the upward trend for a long, long time. The mistake is looking at that historical trend and falling for a whig history belief that this trend is the unstoppable march of history and things will always get better, when it's very possible that we are the generation that is approaching the peak. These gains have to be fought for and protected. The principle issue is that this past century's gains have been built on borrowed time - namely on limited resources that sow the seeds of global environmental catastrophe with every extracted Joule that allows for the next temporary marginal gain in quality of life. Things are better now than they've ever been. But if someone sticks their head in the ground and ignores the problems that are already starting to manifest they might be in for a rude awakening.
raxxorraxor 5y ago
If people think that it wouldn't matter too much. But we have a very active older generation that constantly release new laws against terrorism and violence until it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because some people have had enough. We have been fighting terrorism for 20 years, it did cost trillions of dollars and you cannot even take a coke on a plane. Completely off base an insane because essentially you are correct. We live in the safest times ever. Sure, there are local conflicts and enough human suffering, but policies for safety are still in extremely high demand. Some people really need to take a chill pill. A caveat is that wealth is relative and the younger generation will have a harder time finding dependable long time employment and may not be able to afford a home because speculations drove prices beyond reason. But they don't really need their nuts checked while boarding a plane.
- McLaren_Ferrari 5y ago
  > Some people really need to take a chill pill. People can't take a chill pill because as we look around all the low hanging fruits of technological progress which bring about quality of life have been exploited. We are in the refinement and small improvement part of the S-curve. Saturation. Fracking wasn't as big as striking oil for the first time. EVs won't be like re-discovering the car all over again. Conflicts and fear arise from scarcity or perceived scarcity. They will only go up as perception of scarcity rises among the population. When I say scarcity I also mean diminished rate of improvement, not just plain scarcity of oil, food , land etc. Looking back at the late 1990s there were some quarters when the US economy grew at 7% YoY. Of course peple were chill back then, with that rate of improvement in quality of life everybody would be. It's confirmed by the fact that the chillest and most loose countries today are Nigeria, Ethiopia, the usual suspects which grow at 9% YoY
rocqua 5y ago
There has been tremendous progress. We are better of now that 50 years ago without any doubt. Some of that progress has come with some collateral damage though. And these come with some slow but steady harms. It is definitely worth it to try and contain this collateral damage. Lest in another 50 years we are actually worse of than we are now.

DoughnutHole 5y ago

It's very clear that the quality of life for the average human is better than it has been at any other time in history, and that we've been on the upward trend for a long, long time. The mistake is looking at that historical trend and falling for a whig history belief that this trend is the unstoppable march of history and things will always get better, when it's very possible that we are the generation that is approaching the peak. These gains have to be fought for and protected. The principle issue is that this past century's gains have been built on borrowed time - namely on limited resources that sow the seeds of global environmental catastrophe with every extracted Joule that allows for the next temporary marginal gain in quality of life. Things are better now than they've ever been. But if someone sticks their head in the ground and ignores the problems that are already starting to manifest they might be in for a rude awakening.

raxxorraxor 5y ago

If people think that it wouldn't matter too much. But we have a very active older generation that constantly release new laws against terrorism and violence until it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because some people have had enough. We have been fighting terrorism for 20 years, it did cost trillions of dollars and you cannot even take a coke on a plane. Completely off base an insane because essentially you are correct. We live in the safest times ever. Sure, there are local conflicts and enough human suffering, but policies for safety are still in extremely high demand. Some people really need to take a chill pill. A caveat is that wealth is relative and the younger generation will have a harder time finding dependable long time employment and may not be able to afford a home because speculations drove prices beyond reason. But they don't really need their nuts checked while boarding a plane.

McLaren_Ferrari 5y ago
> Some people really need to take a chill pill. People can't take a chill pill because as we look around all the low hanging fruits of technological progress which bring about quality of life have been exploited. We are in the refinement and small improvement part of the S-curve. Saturation. Fracking wasn't as big as striking oil for the first time. EVs won't be like re-discovering the car all over again. Conflicts and fear arise from scarcity or perceived scarcity. They will only go up as perception of scarcity rises among the population. When I say scarcity I also mean diminished rate of improvement, not just plain scarcity of oil, food , land etc. Looking back at the late 1990s there were some quarters when the US economy grew at 7% YoY. Of course peple were chill back then, with that rate of improvement in quality of life everybody would be. It's confirmed by the fact that the chillest and most loose countries today are Nigeria, Ethiopia, the usual suspects which grow at 9% YoY

rocqua 5y ago

There has been tremendous progress. We are better of now that 50 years ago without any doubt. Some of that progress has come with some collateral damage though. And these come with some slow but steady harms. It is definitely worth it to try and contain this collateral damage. Lest in another 50 years we are actually worse of than we are now.