>> If a person alive now, today, in the present, is unhappy because they have a meager share of the world's wealth, would you expect them to become happy once y

>> If a person alive now, today, in the present, is unhappy because they have a meager share of the world's wealth, would you expect them to become happy once you've explained to them that the world's wealth will be larger in the future, long after we're all dead? > I'd expect them to be happier when their material conditions are improved. You didn't answer the question I asked. I mean, you're not obliged to answer any questions, but for the record, you didn't answer this one. Perhaps your justification for not answering it is something like "false premise": perhaps you believe that a person's material conditions will necessarily improve as time progresses and overall wealth increases, such that they won't need you to explain to them that they're better off because they'll be able to see it with their own eyes. If that's your belief then I don't even need to offer my counterargument because surely you must already know it by now, I've already made it enough times. But, maybe I'll give you a little hint anyway. > world GDP per-capita more than doubled in the span on one lifetime Hint: "per-capita" is an average, which means you're already on shaky ground > Again, your statements are just factually wrong. Global average living standards have increased How can my statement about "global average living standards" be wrong when I never made a statement about "global average living standards"? > The average 70 year old has almost certainly seen drastic improvements over the span of their life. I assume that by "average 70 year old" what you really mean is "typical 70 year old" as in "representative 70 year old" but that still demands clarification. Where does this typical, representative 70 year old live? What percentage of the world's population do they represent? However many people that is, what about the people left over, the one's whose lives are not represented by this typical 70 year old? How have their living standards changed, if at all? These are really just rhetorical questions to try to get you to think. Don't feel the need to try to answer them.