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😂😂😂no it’s def not
Stop listening to the news...
M2 Brexit doesn’t even begin to compare to some of England’s darkest hours. They managed without the EU for centuries I have faith they will come out of it ok.
I agree with you OP. The majority of countries except US and a handful of others are struggling hard. Wealth disparity and economic inequality is enormous and at all time highs. This will only keep going up to where the ultra rich control absolutely everything. There is no accountability in government, high levels of corruption across nearly every nation. Automation and AI will soon displace millions of jobs. Stock Market is fixed entirely etc.
I would say World in general has progressed in the right direction but the US electorate regressed in 2016.
Thank you Rudy Giuliani
Look at the macro metrics (WW poverty, education, child mortality, etc etc). Humanity and civilization as a whole is now at the best time in human history. Sure there is more to improve, but we are waaaayyyyy better than ever.
Don’t let the news take that away
If you are curious for a data-backed and researched answer to this question, read Factfulness by Hans Rosling. The basic premise is how the world is incredibly better off now than in the past and why humans have blinders that make them think the opposite (see above in this thread). It was an eye opening book to me and also an optimistic and reassuring one in many ways. We still have a ways to go, but have come so far in the past 20, 30, 50 years. Highly recommend!
we've cured diseases, reduced infant and maternal mortality, educated millions and lifted people out of poverty many times over
and for financial crashes;
do you mean worse than 2008? or 2001? or black Monday?
and so on, all the way back to Dutch tulips.
Less than 200 years ago people were dueling in the streets. While this seems like a long time compared to our individual lives, in the overall scope of humanity this is just the blink of an eye. Could you imagine discussing gender in the context of self identification even 30 years ago? While the special issues we have now seem insurmountable based on how divided people are, it means that we as a society are (generally speaking) fairly safe and live happy lives, no longer having to fear if your child and it’s mother will survive child birth, or if some plague will wipe out your town. I think social media and news outlets greatly skew our view of what’s going on in the world for the negative, bad news sells unlike anything else so that’s what we are constantly exposed to day in and day out
Yeah it’s going good. Would you rather be alive at any other time? We live in a hyper connected world where everyone’s voice is heard and it amplifies every issue. 50 years ago you heard the news, your friends and what was said at the dinner table now you hear everyone. We see technological breakthroughs at record pace what used to take decades now happens in months. If that alone isn’t exciting I don’t know what is.
Some good some bad.
Biggest accomplishment is reduction in poverty. China’s rise alone is a big factor.
Looking forward though points to heightened risk: distribution of capital getting increasingly unequal and government leadership standards are extremely low. People have lost faith in once trusted institutions.
Altogether, paints a picture of a risky future. And when people live with risk, quality of life suffers.
Also time is a figment of our imagination
I would say the passing of time* is a figment of our imagination. The way we perceive time passing is probably heavily influenced by our own sensory systems to make the world more understandable. In the same way the colours of the visual spectrum are made up by your brain to allow you to distinguish between different wavelengths, even though they are all just on the same spectrum.
I think we are lucky to be alive now. In 50 years time we’ll all be either cooking due to climate change or living boring AF lives because we have found a way to consume little energy and produce little waste.
Enjoy the convenience of affordable air travel, disposable plastics, and cheap fuel whilst you can!
I agree with OP on the financial meltdown piece. As much as we’ve moved forward, we’ve done so at a tremendous cost that is not sustainable. The fundamentals don’t back it up, consumer spending which, along with QE has kept this engine moving forward will draw down (zero and negative rates across major economies, the inverted yield curve all point that out), consumers will start to feel the pinch as inflation will start its upward trajectory and that will be the beginning of the downturn. 2020? 21? Maybe 22 or 23 - but is around the corner and not too far off.
Then the we have the world... populism, protectionism, racism, ethnocentrism - all these isms are also precursors to some interesting times to come. I think we’re already in a world war - it’s fought via proxy and as much online as it is on the battlefield. The tens of millions of people that have been displaced all suffer for PTSD - that will manifest itself in a decade or so. Climate changes will drive scarcity of food and water, income inequality will drive divisions ...
I hope that none of this comes to pass and things ease up, but I think the picture is bleak and getting more so in the coming decades.
Student loans will come to a head someday.