I've always been a fan of of John Stossel and a while back he had a special on "10 foolish myths". The number one myth was "Life just keeps getting worse". He

I've always been a fan of of John Stossel and a while back he had a special on "10 foolish myths". The number one myth was "Life just keeps getting worse". Here's a summary I found on-line, written by Mr Stossel(here:http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-12_28_05_JS.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-12_28_05_JS....)... "Life getting worse is myth No.1 because in TV newsrooms, I hear a constant whine about life getting worse: avian flu will kill us if terrorism doesn't get us first; crime and pollution keep increasing, and the poor are suffering. But in truth, life keeps getting better. We live longer than ever, and with less pain (think about dental care in the 1960s). Crime is down. In America, even poor people have homes, cars, and access to music and other entertainment that was once only available to royalty. Pollution? The air and water keep getting cleaner. I jumped in the Hudson River not long ago to illustrate the point. There I was, swimming away and looking up at the Empire State building. Despite eight million people flushing nearby, the health department says swimming in the Hudson is now perfectly safe." To me that pretty much says it all. Desepite the nay-sayers the world has gotten better and better. In no small part thanks to technology. In fact, I think it's oddly appropriate that this shows up on Hacker News because Mr. Ebert's outlook is exactly what technological minded people should be fighting against. Only through optimism can we realize all the good we are capable of doing.