Do you agree or disagree??

[NAC4EV]

But despite this universal sense of dread, humans are actually more safe, wealthier, healthier, more free, less hungry, and more literate than ever before, Johan Norberg argues in his book Progress, which is published on September 2016

1. There are much fewer hungry people in the world.
2. More people have access to clean water than ever before.
3. We are staying alive, on average, for much longer.
4. The proportion of people in extreme poverty has shrunk.
5. Despite what it feels like, there is much less violence in the world.
6. We are making progress in reducing pollution and protecting the environment.
7. The world is getting more literate every day.
8. Individual freedom and democracy has spread.
9. Societies are more open to all genders, races and sexual orientations than ever before.
10. The next generation will have it even better.

If you closely follow the global news cycle, you would be forgiven for believing that we are diving head first into an apocalypse. Crises in Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine; terrorist attacks across Europe and the Middle East; mass shootings and police violence in the US; and frequent natural disasters everywhere else have left many calm, rational people in a state of fear.

If you are going to copy the work of others, you need to make the proper attributions . This was posted in 2016 here: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-reasons-2016-is-the-best-time-to-be-alive-2016-8/
admin allisolm

 

[MomentsofSanity]

If you look at everything in totality absolutely it’s true.

 

[Mai72]

IMO, overall it has gotten much much better. But, how much better is going to depend individually.

A father of 4 who lost his job ain't going to give two f*cks that people in Africa are starving less. An individual whose just getting by paycheck to paycheck doesn't give a rats ass that people are living longer.

 

[Younigue]

But Trump and crew are working diligently to adversely impact those things. That is after all why so many people are so angry with them.

 

[UberNeuman]

Johan Norberg argues in his book Progress, which is published on September 2016

Progress doesn't happen overnight, nor does regression. All either needs is a foothold and a will to make it happen.

 

[Jaskalas]

The world at large is difficult to comprehend or measure. While we can use some stats to say this fact:

• In 1990, more than 60% of people in East Asia were in extreme poverty. Now only 3.5% are.

There are mounting pressures on the human race caused by volatile systems, caused by unrelenting population growth amidst finite land and resources. Humanity is a ticking time bomb and unless we look ahead and not just find some answers but actually REACH out and seize hold of them to make it a reality, there is bound to be a cataclysm.

We are but a leaf floating on a river, with barely any capacity to consciously navigate what's right in front of our faces... let alone any real waterfalls ahead. There are positive paths forward, the challenges are recognizing them and actually moving humanity in that direction. The internet and automation can be key to our survival, we have to embrace the advantages technology has wrought for us, and we have to be willing to let go of the past and embrace new means of survival.

It's not easy to shake the sense of dread if you grasp a mental image of what is to come.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

Agree

 

[dank69]

Agree

Thanks Obama

 

[ivwshane]

But despite this universal sense of dread, humans are actually more safe, wealthier, healthier, more free, less hungry, and more literate than ever before, Johan Norberg argues in his book Progress, which is published on September 2016

1. There are much fewer hungry people in the world.
2. More people have access to clean water than ever before.
3. We are staying alive, on average, for much longer.
4. The proportion of people in extreme poverty has shrunk.
5. Despite what it feels like, there is much less violence in the world.
6. We are making progress in reducing pollution and protecting the environment.
7. The world is getting more literate every day.
8. Individual freedom and democracy has spread.
9. Societies are more open to all genders, races and sexual orientations than ever before.
10. The next generation will have it even better.

If you closely follow the global news cycle, you would be forgiven for believing that we are diving head first into an apocalypse. Crises in Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine; terrorist attacks across Europe and the Middle East; mass shootings and police violence in the US; and frequent natural disasters everywhere else have left many calm, rational people in a state of fear.

Quick question for you: how long did it take to get to this point and can you name a single policy or event that got us to where we are? Was the course to the present linear?


The answer is: it took a very long time, literally hundreds if not thousands of years.
There was no single policy or event that got us to this point. Humanity has battled for improvement throughout history and it sometimes failed and it sometimes succeeded.

Just because things are better doesn't mean things can't get worse and it definitely doesn't mean we can't push for even more progress.

Its not fear, it's people being guarded and protective of what's been achieved. Things usually don't get worse because of a single action but rather after a series of actions/events.

Ignorance is bliss I guess.

 

[pmv]

But despite this universal sense of dread, humans are actually more safe, wealthier, healthier, more free, less hungry, and more literate than ever before, Johan Norberg argues in his book Progress, which is published on September 2016

1. There are much fewer hungry people in the world.
2. More people have access to clean water than ever before.
3. We are staying alive, on average, for much longer.
4. The proportion of people in extreme poverty has shrunk.
5. Despite what it feels like, there is much less violence in the world.
6. We are making progress in reducing pollution and protecting the environment.
7. The world is getting more literate every day.
8. Individual freedom and democracy has spread.
9. Societies are more open to all genders, races and sexual orientations than ever before.
10. The next generation will have it even better.

If you closely follow the global news cycle, you would be forgiven for believing that we are diving head first into an apocalypse. Crises in Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine; terrorist attacks across Europe and the Middle East; mass shootings and police violence in the US; and frequent natural disasters everywhere else have left many calm, rational people in a state of fear.

Firstly, there's a bit of the 'inductivist turkey' about this. Some things don't lend themselves to simple extrapolation. Things can get better right up to the point where they suddenly don't. In particular, we don't appear to be making much progress at all when it comes to tackling climate change. Things looked pretty good in Europe in the early 20th century - then Franz Ferdinand got assassinated. One nuclear exchange can ruin your whole day.

Secondly, the 'less violence' thing is questionable. I know Stephen Pinker has been peddling that thesis for some time, but his historical figures are challengable, and it depends critically on how you define 'violence'. There seems to have been a shift from chaotic violence to a more institutionised form.

Thirdly, the central truth in it seems to be the difference between the direction of travel globally as opposed to just in the West. Globally, poverty seems to be declining and inequality is falling. But within the West inequality is increasing. It's not clear how those two confilcting trends will play out.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Globally, poverty seems to be declining and inequality is falling. But within the West inequality is increasing. It's not clear how those two confilcting trends will play out.

Wealthy people as a whole never have and never will care about the struggles of the poor and oppressed no matter what statics are presented. If our economy bottomed out tomorrow Trump wouldn't really care as long as he was able to maintain his wealth.

 

[Amused]

I agree. Only fanatics spout the fear mongering that things are worse now.

Ironically they are usually the ones standing in the way of progress and change. Which is why they cling to the narrative that things are somehow worse now.

 

[Jhhnn]

Only fanatics spout the fear mongering that things are worse now.

Which explains MAGA entirely.

 

[Stokely]

True, I think overall the world is a better place than ever before for most people--we just instantly hear about the bad stuff in a way that past generations didn't. For example, my wife (and many other parents) think child-snatchers are lurking in white vans on every corner, because we hear about this stuff on a loop from around the country.

It's also true that wealth is concentrating ever more on the top, despite "unfair" tax rates. This indicates a broken system and I don't see how it can continue without it collapsing.

As mentioned, Trump and his ilk seem dedicated to reversing the "world is getting better" trend if you look item by item. The environment for instance....the fucking head of the EPA has declared "The War on Coal is over". What in the actual fuck.

 

[Moonbeam]

Ever experience a sense of oceanic oneness as a child, say laying on the grass on a warm day and watching the clouds float by? The Zen master says that everyday is a good day when you're enlightened, and everybody is enlightened, the trick being, it's good to know it. The feeling of the sun warming your skin is the same feeling Christ felt in the sun but you have to be there to feel it. Perhaps instead you are busy with worrying about tomorrow or some guilt from yesterday and not even know it, constricted from feeling anything.

 

[realibrad]

Ever experience a sense of oceanic oneness as a child, say laying on the grass on a warm day and watching the clouds float by? The Zen master says that everyday is a good day when you're enlightened, and everybody is enlightened, the trick being, it's good to know it. The feeling of the sun warming your skin is the same feeling Christ felt in the sun but you have to be there to feel it. Perhaps instead you are busy with worrying about tomorrow or some guilt from yesterday and not even know it, constricted from feeling anything.

Things don't buy happiness.

 

[sandorski]

Quick question for you: how long did it take to get to this point and can you name a single policy or event that got us to where we are? Was the course to the present linear?


The answer is: it took a very long time, literally hundreds if not thousands of years.
There was no single policy or event that got us to this point. Humanity has battled for improvement throughout history and it sometimes failed and it sometimes succeeded.

Just because things are better doesn't mean things can't get worse and it definitely doesn't mean we can't push for even more progress.

Its not fear, it's people being guarded and protective of what's been achieved. Things usually don't get worse because of a single action but rather after a series of actions/events.

Ignorance is bliss I guess.

Mostly, I would propose, that it is the Scientific Method that has caused this outcome combined with Secular Government. Once you address Reality as it is rather than how it is believed to be, it becomes much easier to solve problems and/or recognize problems that can be solved.

 

[Moonbeam]

Things don't buy happiness.

My father, who lost his father at 2.5 and his mother at 10 and was raised by relatives he felt experienced him as a burden grew up dedicated never to spend anything on himself. He had many many sayings and a great wit as to who he was. Some of the things he would say. I want to be the richest man in the cemetery. I don't think anymore of a nickel than I do my right eye. And that money isn't everything but it's way ahead of whatever's in second place.

So while I agree that things don't bring happiness, the state of unhappiness is a state that many prefer to endure, with or without the money to have some pleasure in things, in preference to facing whatever lies we bought into that our unhappiness is deserved. The desire for happiness arises out of a sense of lack plus the unconscious feeling that lack has been earned. It is a dream of the ego for ego satisfaction.

Part of what enabled me to die to the hope I could ever be happy came from reading Zen, and in particular this saying:

I sought happiness and it ran from me. I turned my back on happiness and it followed me. When one reaches the end of the rope of hope, a strawberry appears out of nowhere.

 

[zerocool84]

I agree. Only fanatics spout the fear mongering that things are worse now.

Ironically they are usually the ones standing in the way of progress and change. Which is why they cling to the narrative that things are somehow worse now.

Oh of course. We know for a fact our country is safest its been in decades but that doesn't fit the conservative agenda of white supremacy and getting the darkies out.

 

[Thebobo]

Mostly, I would propose, that it is the Scientific Method that has caused this outcome combined with Secular Government. Once you address Reality as it is rather than how it is believed to be, it becomes much easier to solve problems and/or recognize problems that can be solved.

I would agree but with the world lately with some muslim countries becoming less secular it's concerning.

 

[ivwshane]

Mostly, I would propose, that it is the Scientific Method that has caused this outcome combined with Secular Government. Once you address Reality as it is rather than how it is believed to be, it becomes much easier to solve problems and/or recognize problems that can be solved.

Mostly? That's a pretty difficult claim to make. It was certainly a factor but the main factor or a large factor, I wouldn't go that far. I wish it were true though because if it were I'm confident that we would have been am even more advanced species than we are now.

 

[Atreus21]

But despite this universal sense of dread, humans are actually more safe, wealthier, healthier, more free, less hungry, and more literate than ever before, Johan Norberg argues in his book Progress, which is published on September 2016

1. There are much fewer hungry people in the world.
2. More people have access to clean water than ever before.
3. We are staying alive, on average, for much longer.
4. The proportion of people in extreme poverty has shrunk.
5. Despite what it feels like, there is much less violence in the world.
6. We are making progress in reducing pollution and protecting the environment.
7. The world is getting more literate every day.
8. Individual freedom and democracy has spread.
9. Societies are more open to all genders, races and sexual orientations than ever before.
10. The next generation will have it even better.

If you closely follow the global news cycle, you would be forgiven for believing that we are diving head first into an apocalypse. Crises in Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine; terrorist attacks across Europe and the Middle East; mass shootings and police violence in the US; and frequent natural disasters everywhere else have left many calm, rational people in a state of fear.

If you are going to copy the work of others, you need to make the proper attributions . This was posted in 2016 here: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-reasons-2016-is-the-best-time-to-be-alive-2016-8/
admin allisolm

Reminds me of this.