Topic: We are living in the best period known to man! (Read 454 times)

I agree. You go to the cave of your apartment, or the cave of your house. You go in through the doorway cave-hole. You have succeeded in becoming a caveman.

There are loads of people doing this by moving to places in Mexico, Central America, South America, Southeast Asia, and loads of other places just to get away from the controls of the rat-race you are in.

Some of the cave-people enjoy a hermit's life. Others take their families with them. The fact that some people are smart enough to revert to caveman life, and that they can actually do it if they try hard enough, shows that we are living in one of the best periods known to man.

If cave man had it so great, why don't you sell all your belongings and try to live that kind of life. Simply give up on all the progress we made through thousands of years and live stress free and relaxed lifestyle. If that sounds so appealing to you, try it, and  let's see how long will you last.

There are hermits that live that kind of life, be one of them if that is so great, put your money where your mouth is

Show us anyone who came back to what he was... outside a few who were medically "resurrected" after a few minutes or an hour.

A cave man who has all his needs of life fulfilled, and sits comfortably on his log or stone chair covered with soft skins, at the entrance to his cave, and enjoys as he watches the rain gently coming down, has way more peace than a bunch of jokers who are trying to get through traffic twice a day, and scrambling to make ends meet, go to an early grave because of stress.

No gain in life except for the little enjoyment we get out of living honestly. Just because your cave has a rectangular door on it...

On the contrary.

As far as we know, we only have this life here on earth, and because of that limited time that we have, it pushes us forward and makes us use the time we have here as best as we can/know. Without this human ambition and curiosity, we would still be in caves and fighting bears for survival.

So because we will die one day, everything matters and we should try to enjoy more this time that we were given.

Yep definitely much improvement on the outside but running mad on the inside

Nothing really changes until we move out of death in about 100 years or less, to much longer life... like in the range of 500 or 1,000 years.

Sure, I want to know my kids will have a good long life. But so far, nothing changes.

We still seem to have groups of people who live well into their hundred+ years, like the Hunzas, or the people of Vilcabamba, Ecuador, and others like some blacks in Africa who live only into their 40s or so.

As long as we all die, everything is meaningless.

Every generation says they are the best generation lol, but things will continue to improve and better generations will surely come.

An uncle was scolding his child to not use phone too much I saw that day. Because it can harm his eyes. And he was angry when that kid resisted. But I'm pretty sure, if uncle's daddy comes down from heaven and says to him, "Son don't use cars so much, it's harmful for environment" , uncle will not listen to his daddy as well.

Every generation is also hypocrite

It has taken time. But since Jesus destroyed Satan, that great, evil angel/alien, we have gradually been able to step out of the dark ages of pre-Christianity into the wonders we have today.

Now if only we don't, ourselves, continue in the evil path of Satan, we just might be able to grow great, and even reach the stars, someday.

Of course, we will probably fail in the greatness endeavor. After all, Satan implanted too much of his evil genetics within all of us to allow us freedom towards true goodness.

It's simple - members of older generations do not understand the modern day, so they feel uncomfortable, and to them it really was better 20/30/50 years ago. As for younger generations, all they see and hear about is crime, corruption, poverty, no jobs, poorly paid jobs, etc. On the other hand, their parents and grandparents keep talking about the 'good old days.' and with the two combined - it is not that surprising that young people don't feel satisfied with the new age.

Yep, it is a very good book, I am a Steven Pinker fan actually  .

Imo his last one, Enlightenment Now is even better, and i suggest everyone to check it out, and see that situation is  better than media would like you to think.

There has been a huge amount of research on this, not least Steven Pinker's book a few years ago, "The Better Angels of Our Nature" - https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0143122010

The world is far safer now than it has been before. But I think media plays a big part in the widespread impression that things are not as good/safe as they used to be. Particularly the tendency nowadays for 24 hour news channels, where any latest development, no matter how mundane, is reported in breathless awe, as if it was the most dramatic thing ever. The internet makes this situation worse, particularly with Twitter and other social media, where everyone is desperate to be the one who breaks the news of the latest events.

"Better" however is also relative. If we think of average standard of living in a typical western country, this is certainly higher than it was in say the 1950s. But it is also the case that inequality nowadays is far greater than it was in the 1950s. Us average people have more in absolute terms, but we have far less as a percentage of what the wealthy have. In my parents' generation, a family could be quite affluent with just a single wage earner on average money. Whereas most families now have both parents at work, in increasingly precarious employment, renting because they can't afford to buy a house, and with worse pensions to come... so in the limited case of average western affluence, and taken in relative terms, then things were better for previous generations.

Most civlizations are at their peak most of the time though. If you are to look at the stock market at any point in history, most of the time you're going to be at all time highs and that isn't a reason for the civilization to crash.

It could be time for a recession -- yes, where things are corrected.

But crashing just for the sake of nothing -- not going to happen when innovation is the norm now. And that's where growth comes from.

Unemployment numbers are totally manipulated, the average us citizen is not in good shape, middle class is disappearing.  "Anyone capable shouldn't have issues" can't believe your saying that nonsense.

@squatz1 I’ll second that mainstream media won’t gain viewers attention if they publish happy news, they fabricate false catchy headlines to get more viewers and they’ll never change. Honestly life quality has improved a lot than it was 20 years ago, but because of the media spreading negativity people are unable to see it but the charts you have put up show the real picture.

That's the cost of the shift of the industry, those kind of jobs went to Asia. We have  to adapt and keep learning new skills whole our life, that's how it goes.

College degree price indeed went up a lot, but if you are smart and choose something that is in high demand, you should be fine.If you decide to study gender studies, indology or whatever useless stuff , be prepared to have issues paying off student loans. Or if you don't have any ambition/skill and are satisfied with work in Mcdonalds don't be surprised to get low salary.

If there is one country in the world where if you are ambitious and capable you have good chance for success, that's United States. Unemployment level is at the lowest in the last 50 years, anyone capable shouldn't have issues in finding the job.

In countries like the United States it was a lot easier to live,  Wages have dropped while CEO pay and wealth inequality has grown.  I had relatives making the equivalent of $40 in today's money out of high school in a factory.  Now people are lucky to be paid 10 bucks an hour in a lot of places. And look how much more it costs for a college degree compared to the 1960s and 1970s.

30 years ago 35% of the world population lived in extreme poverty, now number is less than 10%. Do tell me more how people made more money back then.

The average modern human works more hours than someone did as a hunter gatherer.  Of course if you care about technology and stuff you prefer moder time.  I disagree about 20-40 years ago as well, people were paid a lot more compared to know and it was easier to afford housing and education.

^^^ But how do we know? We find that the media is covering many things up. It might be that mass shootings are decreasing, and that the media is being forced by independent media coverage, to express more of what is really happening in the world. And that is why we are seeing more of the mass shootings that have been going on forever.

There is the bad side to, mass shootings is now more common than it was before.

I agree. While the life expectancy is growing due to less people dying from things that are easy to cure and uset do be a menace back in the day, like consumption, more and more people succumb to cancer. Many food additives were proven to be unhealthy but they were not removed from products. One of them is nitrate which can be found in almost every product, even in fresh vegetables and unprocessed meat.

You, again, have a piss poor reading comprehension grade.   

"The media will have you believe......"  is not 'me essentially saying'

My post was very clear,  point / counter-point
Media tells you one thing / facts state another.

This generation is the first one to have a life expectancy that is shorter than the previous one. This is due to toxic diets, unhealthy health care, drug abuse, and the globalists eugenics plans.

Yep, I saw those.

It is similar thing when it comes to crime rate in the U.S.



One would think that majority of people will notice this decline in crime, but no, same story.



People are simply more inclined to notice negative , than positive. And it is a shame, as we are obviously making progress, despite what media likes to serve us.

But how can we trust the accuracy of these values,mostly media just using their power to manipulate the people as they want so we are believing that we are living in better world.Having more advanced technology or more money is not alone the best living style but we also need to have better and peaceful life.In reality we are just running and running behind the money until we die.

Of course civilizations get better with time. That's why they all essentially vanish off the face of the earth after a while.

And according to you, you essentially said that police are thugs, even though their thuggery is declining, without stating it out directly point blank. See the highlighted area above. What I said simply expresses what you said in more detail.

If you didn't mean that, don't you think you should say what you mean?

I would think most civilizations get better as they get older.   We are very close to our peak though, and will be descending rapidly.

No, the point is exactly what the statistics show, regardless of your skewed mentality

And of course, the point is, that police are thugs, and that lately, because of all the Internet communications, and because of all the police brutality websites, cops are becoming more and more scared to do their thuggery.

So, it isn't that cops ware becoming honest, or are becoming noble. Rather, its that their hand is being called.


Cities hire cops. If the cities really wanted to get rid of the bad element among them, they would arm everyone. But the city leaders want to dominate their citizens. So they hire cops... who step over the limits a bit sometimes. If the city leaders wanted fair play, they would arm the citizens and fire the cops.

I would say the best AND worst. We've seen great improvement in living standards but it could also cost us our future if we don't manage the planet correctly.


Correct. For news to sell, it must be sensational enough for people to bother checking it out. Hence the clickbait we now have in the digital age.

Want to see another one?

Dig up stats on police shootings and police use of force.

The media will have you believe that American policing is nothing but racist thugs shooting everyone.
But the statistics will prove to you that police involved shootings and use of force has been steadily declining for 50 years

Here's NYPD
https://images.app.goo.gl/oon2XAzL2ix78PzM8

If you'd been watching the news though, you'd think that there is more violence in the world, more poverty, incomes going down, and so on and so forth.

People don't understand that sadness sells, good times don't sell for the news.

Thanks for the charts and such, this is very helpful!

...and yet somehow the majority of people believe that the world was a better place 20,30,50 years ago. Why is that when all major statistics show it otherwise?
Is it media, ignorance, a tendency to look at the past through rose tinted glasses, nostalgia? Or maybe all of it combined?

So let's look at some  statistics how the world has  changed through the years:


Extreme poverty

This is one of the basic metrics. As seen in the picture, less than 40 years ago a huge percentage of people lived in extreme poverty, by 1990 the number was still big but decreasing, almost 35% of the world population still lived in extreme poverty.And now, approximately 10% people still live in extreme poverty. Of course that is still big number, but the change is obvious, and the change is huge! That number is expected to decrease to under 5% by 2030.
Just to add, the poverty line is set at $1.90 per day and it is adjusted per income level in each country.






Child mortality

In the 1800s more than 40% children didn't survive their first 5 years, in the next 100 years that number dropped to 36%, in 1960 the number dropped to 18%, and currently we are at 4%. Astonishing progress!








Life expectancy

Yet another example of how we are improving, the chart says it all. For example, life expectancy in Africa in 1950 was only 35 years, and currently it is at almost 60 years.That makes it approximately a 70% increase in less than 60 years. The increase in Asia is even more remarkable, 75% in the same period! But not only less developed regions increased life expectancy, it is the case in the most developed regions too.







Literacy

In 1950, 44% of the world population was illiterate, and in the next 60 years that number decreased to under 15%, with an obvious tendency to decrease further.



Charts source



As seen from this data, world is improving, people are living better in general, whether we notice it or not.

Of course, there is much work to do, there are many areas that need improvement, and some issues have to be tackled  more seriously like the environment, but it is safe to say that we are moving forward as a species and people should be a bit more optimistic about the future. There are less wars than before, less famines, less violence.
Pessimists would like to say that nuclear war could change all that very fast, but we were in bigger danger of that 50-60 years ago than we are now.

But the media like to paint a different picture, they know that what sells best are the bad news, and today we are more connected than ever, getting news from all over the world and giving us the impression that world is going for worse, while the situation is actually different, when looked from distance, and when we are looking at the big picture.


What's your take on all this?