Thunderian
Superstar
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2017
- Messages
- 7,515
I kind of thought that other thread was going to cover this topic, but it's something crazy that I don't understand at all.
Anyway, in so many ways, we who are alive today are living in the best age this world has ever seen. The majority of us live longer and better lives than anyone else in history has, with less work to be done, and more and more luxuries at our disposal. I'm not a rich man, but I am only a generation or two away from peasants who lived in dirt huts and were virtual slaves, and whose own previous generation would have viewed my car, accommodations, and electronics as insane luxury, if not witchcraft.
How are some ways our world today is a vast improvement on all the previous ages? Or even a few years ago?
For one thing, the global mortality rate for children under 5 has declined from 93.4 per 1,000 in 1990 to 40.8 in 2016. In America, the violent crime rate has dropped by roughly 75% since the early 1990's. Extreme poverty has fallen from 85% of the world's population 200 years ago, to about 12% today, and if that trend continues, extreme poverty will be virtually nonexistent in ten years. These are all good things, aren't they? Why don't we talk about them?
Anyway, in so many ways, we who are alive today are living in the best age this world has ever seen. The majority of us live longer and better lives than anyone else in history has, with less work to be done, and more and more luxuries at our disposal. I'm not a rich man, but I am only a generation or two away from peasants who lived in dirt huts and were virtual slaves, and whose own previous generation would have viewed my car, accommodations, and electronics as insane luxury, if not witchcraft.
How are some ways our world today is a vast improvement on all the previous ages? Or even a few years ago?
For one thing, the global mortality rate for children under 5 has declined from 93.4 per 1,000 in 1990 to 40.8 in 2016. In America, the violent crime rate has dropped by roughly 75% since the early 1990's. Extreme poverty has fallen from 85% of the world's population 200 years ago, to about 12% today, and if that trend continues, extreme poverty will be virtually nonexistent in ten years. These are all good things, aren't they? Why don't we talk about them?