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miriam_eI'm constantly surprised at the number of people I talk to who are convinced the world is spiraling out of control and getting worse, that people are more immoral, and violent crime is on the rise.
They are wrong.
▪ We live in a time of unparalleled luxury.
▪ Almost all human knowledge is literally at our fingertips.
▪ People are more moral and peaceful and more empathetic and respectful of each other than ever before.
▪ Violent crime is the lowest it has ever been and continues to fall, as it has done for hundreds of years.
▪ Wars continue to decline in both number and lethality, and they are now almost universally despised, where once they were considered exciting adventures.
▪ Religion, that historic fomenter of hate, is dying at long last.
▪ Women, children, and even animals now have rights instead of being merely possessions to be exploited.
▪ Slavery is vanishing.
▪ Literacy is approaching 100%.
▪ People are escaping extreme poverty in increasing numbers.
▪ Hygiene and vaccines have nearly eliminated most of the awful diseases that plagued mankind.
▪ Our birthrate has been falling since the 1960s and the number people is expected to plateau soon, then begin to slowly decrease thereafter.
Things are genuinely getting better in almost any way we'd like to measure. So why do people think things are the opposite of how they really are?
The news media are partly the cause of the cynicism today. They magnify it with their concentration on journalism that feeds fear and hopelessness. But it is hard to blame them. They are pandering to a broken aspect of human psychology: fear and outrage hold our attention far more easily than happiness and good news.
Another cause is that cynicism is oddly respected and considered sophisticated, whereas optimism is seen as naïve. I'm not sure why this is so. Reading scientific literature (New Scientist, Scientific American, etc) promotes optimism, whereas religious literature (the Bible, Quran, The Watchtower, etc) fill the reader with dread and fear that the world is basically evil and in decline. This is very odd, since scientific literature is full of genuine knowledge about the world. The other is merely uninformed superstition. Yet somehow cynicism and doomcasting are seen as wise, and optimism based upon real knowledge is seen as uninformed and naïve. I can't explain this. It seems related to the way being bored appears "cool" while enthusiasm is seen as childlike. How do we fix this? I would love to know. Perhaps we need more heroes in fiction and reality who are happy, enthusiastic, and uplifting.
But if everything is getting better, does it matter that people's view of the world is so upside down?
Yes, because I think it is the cause of our remaining problems.
I have often wondered how a lying, clueless psychopath like Trump got elected. After talking to many people about this I've come to the tentative conclusion that cynicism may be the major reason. Many people had become so dismissive of government and society in general, that they thought burning it all down would be better; Trump, as an agent of chaos, would be an improvement over the ordered decay of lazy, corrupt politicians. And yes, there are plenty of crooked, self-serving politicians, and we need to get rid of them, or prevent them gaining office in the first place, but I think more politicians are honest today than at any time in history. Burning down the system and taking us back to square one would lose all the slow, painful gains we've made. We need to fix the remaining problems, not destroy it all.
One of the other major threats we are facing today is climate change. The elevation of ignorance as wisdom helped the petroleum corporations who fought against climate change awareness. Thankfully, fear and outrage has helped to push back against this, to some degree.
Another major calamity, which most people don't even seem to see, is biodiversity loss. We are literally throwing away the wealth of life on Earth and paving it over with the tar and cement of urban sprawl. We clear forests to feed cattle that we don't really need to eat. We create polluted wastelands by mining and raping nature for her wood and other resources. The vehicles on our roads murder wildlife every day, until none remain. People's pet dogs and cats roam the dwindling pockets of nature and slaughter the few remaining native animals. I can understand people feeling despair and hopelessness in the face of that. However, we are on the cusp of several solutions that would solve biodiversity loss while immeasureably improving our lives. I think the most useful solutions are indoor vertical farming, vat-grown foods (particularly meat), and building underground. The new space race will mine the moon and asteroids, moving some of the most destructive industries off our planet. AI will help with that too. When I tell people this they tend to roll their eyes, thinking this is distant future wish-casting, but these things are beginning to happen right now.
Despite dramatic improvements, there is still large-scale suffering in the world. About 9 million people starve to death every year. About a third of those -- about 3 million -- are children. In such a time of plenty this is inexcusable. We easily have more than enough food to end starvation while at the same time curing the epidemic of obesity in the wealthy nations. I think cynicism and feeling hopeless are what make this problem so difficult to solve too. I've met many people who think that the world is screwed, so they might as well live it up in the time they have left. This false view makes things worse. I've also met many people who think that starvation, disease, and war reduce population numbers. The reverse is actually true. Suffering causes the birthrate to increase. Luxury and wellbeing stabilise population numbers. The mechanism is well understood. People in impoverished conditions with no social security have lots of children in the hope that some will survive to look after them in their declining years. On the other hand, people who can expect a comfortable old age are more likely to focus their resources upon fewer children to give them the best chance in life.
So my conclusion? Have hope for the future. Things are much better than you realise. Replace your news source with scientific information. You will be happier and better informed. Help people who are not as well-off as yourself. We all benefit from that. Give cynicism, fear, and despair the boot. Why trade a happy life for a depressing one? By uplifting yourself and others we really can fix the world.
They are wrong.
▪ We live in a time of unparalleled luxury.
▪ Almost all human knowledge is literally at our fingertips.
▪ People are more moral and peaceful and more empathetic and respectful of each other than ever before.
▪ Violent crime is the lowest it has ever been and continues to fall, as it has done for hundreds of years.
▪ Wars continue to decline in both number and lethality, and they are now almost universally despised, where once they were considered exciting adventures.
▪ Religion, that historic fomenter of hate, is dying at long last.
▪ Women, children, and even animals now have rights instead of being merely possessions to be exploited.
▪ Slavery is vanishing.
▪ Literacy is approaching 100%.
▪ People are escaping extreme poverty in increasing numbers.
▪ Hygiene and vaccines have nearly eliminated most of the awful diseases that plagued mankind.
▪ Our birthrate has been falling since the 1960s and the number people is expected to plateau soon, then begin to slowly decrease thereafter.
Things are genuinely getting better in almost any way we'd like to measure. So why do people think things are the opposite of how they really are?
The news media are partly the cause of the cynicism today. They magnify it with their concentration on journalism that feeds fear and hopelessness. But it is hard to blame them. They are pandering to a broken aspect of human psychology: fear and outrage hold our attention far more easily than happiness and good news.
Another cause is that cynicism is oddly respected and considered sophisticated, whereas optimism is seen as naïve. I'm not sure why this is so. Reading scientific literature (New Scientist, Scientific American, etc) promotes optimism, whereas religious literature (the Bible, Quran, The Watchtower, etc) fill the reader with dread and fear that the world is basically evil and in decline. This is very odd, since scientific literature is full of genuine knowledge about the world. The other is merely uninformed superstition. Yet somehow cynicism and doomcasting are seen as wise, and optimism based upon real knowledge is seen as uninformed and naïve. I can't explain this. It seems related to the way being bored appears "cool" while enthusiasm is seen as childlike. How do we fix this? I would love to know. Perhaps we need more heroes in fiction and reality who are happy, enthusiastic, and uplifting.
But if everything is getting better, does it matter that people's view of the world is so upside down?
Yes, because I think it is the cause of our remaining problems.
I have often wondered how a lying, clueless psychopath like Trump got elected. After talking to many people about this I've come to the tentative conclusion that cynicism may be the major reason. Many people had become so dismissive of government and society in general, that they thought burning it all down would be better; Trump, as an agent of chaos, would be an improvement over the ordered decay of lazy, corrupt politicians. And yes, there are plenty of crooked, self-serving politicians, and we need to get rid of them, or prevent them gaining office in the first place, but I think more politicians are honest today than at any time in history. Burning down the system and taking us back to square one would lose all the slow, painful gains we've made. We need to fix the remaining problems, not destroy it all.
One of the other major threats we are facing today is climate change. The elevation of ignorance as wisdom helped the petroleum corporations who fought against climate change awareness. Thankfully, fear and outrage has helped to push back against this, to some degree.
Another major calamity, which most people don't even seem to see, is biodiversity loss. We are literally throwing away the wealth of life on Earth and paving it over with the tar and cement of urban sprawl. We clear forests to feed cattle that we don't really need to eat. We create polluted wastelands by mining and raping nature for her wood and other resources. The vehicles on our roads murder wildlife every day, until none remain. People's pet dogs and cats roam the dwindling pockets of nature and slaughter the few remaining native animals. I can understand people feeling despair and hopelessness in the face of that. However, we are on the cusp of several solutions that would solve biodiversity loss while immeasureably improving our lives. I think the most useful solutions are indoor vertical farming, vat-grown foods (particularly meat), and building underground. The new space race will mine the moon and asteroids, moving some of the most destructive industries off our planet. AI will help with that too. When I tell people this they tend to roll their eyes, thinking this is distant future wish-casting, but these things are beginning to happen right now.
Despite dramatic improvements, there is still large-scale suffering in the world. About 9 million people starve to death every year. About a third of those -- about 3 million -- are children. In such a time of plenty this is inexcusable. We easily have more than enough food to end starvation while at the same time curing the epidemic of obesity in the wealthy nations. I think cynicism and feeling hopeless are what make this problem so difficult to solve too. I've met many people who think that the world is screwed, so they might as well live it up in the time they have left. This false view makes things worse. I've also met many people who think that starvation, disease, and war reduce population numbers. The reverse is actually true. Suffering causes the birthrate to increase. Luxury and wellbeing stabilise population numbers. The mechanism is well understood. People in impoverished conditions with no social security have lots of children in the hope that some will survive to look after them in their declining years. On the other hand, people who can expect a comfortable old age are more likely to focus their resources upon fewer children to give them the best chance in life.
So my conclusion? Have hope for the future. Things are much better than you realise. Replace your news source with scientific information. You will be happier and better informed. Help people who are not as well-off as yourself. We all benefit from that. Give cynicism, fear, and despair the boot. Why trade a happy life for a depressing one? By uplifting yourself and others we really can fix the world.