Smile! Things aint so bad!

So very often people speak as of the world or their personal lives are just at and end. While on a personal level you can be going through some trying times let us try to look at it objectively if possible:

Right now we live in a world of miracles. I mean consider if you are on this forum you are on a device that connects you to more information then the great Libraries of Alexandria. You are on a device that lets you talk to people on any part of the globe almost instantly. You are on a device that years before was the size of a room with not even a quarter of your processing power.

Now look at the food on your table While we might have very little money we still likely have a selection of food at our disposable that even kings of the past could not imagine. As time flows on the world has more and more to eat. We create dishes beyond the imagination of the most skilled chefs of even fifty years ago.

We live in an age of medical and technological wonders. We live on the brink of breakthroughs We live in an age where children are getting 3D printed limbs made by random people over the internet at affordable prices. We live on the cusp of break through in printing or cloning organs. We live on the cusp of new antibiotics being created to combat resistant bacteria. We live on the cusp of ever expanding life spans. In our life time we can see people living well over a hundred if this progress continues.

We live in a world where if I wanted I could get on a flying machine and in less then a day visit any one here if I chose to spend the money. We live in a world where violence has dropped in all first world nations for the last decade. We live in a world that is more connected then its ever been.

Yet some how we forget to see the amazing wonders we use each day. We forget that we are more informed, better fed, work less, and live longer then ever before. Yet we seem to miss this in the midst of the hype of medias " If it bleeds it leads" mentality. Remember this bit of information, a man tired of sad news tried to put out a newspaper with only good news in it. This paper failed in less then three issues. Its not the world that is getting darker, but the minds of those that live in it. The how and why of this is something we must solve so that we can enjoy the amazing things we are privileged to use each day.

Very well put Thanks for writing that.

Certain things are getting worse (like war and terrorism). What you listed was mainly focused on our developed technology, which is unarguably quite impressive. But human thought and behavior (as you alluded to) is taking a nose dive, as I see it. I'm not sure it's true that violence in first-world nations is getting better.

Streen wrote: Very well put Thanks for writing that.

Certain things are getting worse (like war and terrorism). What you listed was mainly focused on our developed technology, which is unarguably quite impressive. But human thought and behavior (as you alluded to) is taking a nose dive, as I see it. I'm not sure it's true that violence in first-world nations is getting better.

Wars are not getting worse. We have been at war for over a decade with minimal losses here in the US. That is not worse that is better. We are at war so long because we are trying to limit damage that is not worse that is better.
As for violence that is FACT. Your statement of being not sure is because you did not do the research:
US
http://www.statista.com/statistics/191219/reported-violent-crime-rate-in-the-usa-since-1990/

Europe
http://ourworldindata.org/data/violence-rights/homicides/

Japan
http://ourworldindata.org/data/violence-rights/homicides/

And an article that lists several countries even though Slate tends to be rather biased the data is not wrong
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/12/the_world_is_not_falling_apart_the_trend_lines_reveal_an_increasingly_peaceful.html

Well, if not war in the US, then war in the world is getting worse.

As for the US, we've been at war in the Middle East since at least the early 90's (perhaps on and off). It has been prophesied, however, that war would get worse on this planet. Currently it is mostly in the Middle East, though technically that entire area has been at battle since the beginning of time.

Don't get me wrong, there are many aspects of life that have gotten better. But don't fool yourself into thinking that everything is just going to improve from here on out. The world is falling apart. There's a storm coming, and the Jedi won't be able to do much about it.

The numbers say otherwise: the number of victims of war and large-scale wars total has been declining quite quickly since the end of WWII, though the number of small-scale wars has increased despite remaining well below its peak in the early 1990s. The only recent blip is the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Of course, the Syrian Civil War would represent a huge uptick on this chart, but the trend would still be there.

"There's a storm coming" is something that has been said in every generation for as long as we've been trying to predict the future. On 1980s Usenet a lot of people predicted nuclear war between NATO and the USSR by the year 2000. Given what was going on in the 1980s, I can't say I blame them, but it did not come to pass.

Streen wrote: Don't get me wrong, there are many aspects of life that have gotten better. But don't fool yourself into thinking that everything is just going to improve from here on out. The world is falling apart. There's a storm coming, and the Jedi won't be able to do much about it.

I remain optimistic. The glass is half full and filling.

Streen wrote: Well, if not war in the US, then war in the world is getting worse.

As for the US, we've been at war in the Middle East since at least the early 90's (perhaps on and off). It has been prophesied, however, that war would get worse on this planet. Currently it is mostly in the Middle East, though technically that entire area has been at battle since the beginning of time.

Don't get me wrong, there are many aspects of life that have gotten better. But don't fool yourself into thinking that everything is just going to improve from here on out. The world is falling apart. There's a storm coming, and the Jedi won't be able to do much about it.

Your post shows the exact mentality I was speaking about in my original message. The world has been shown by more then one reliable source to be getting better all the time. Ive shown how. We've proven the world is less violent. Yet the idea that its falling apart persists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMBJ87ZTuJY

MadHatter wrote:

Streen wrote: Well, if not war in the US, then war in the world is getting worse.

As for the US, we've been at war in the Middle East since at least the early 90's (perhaps on and off). It has been prophesied, however, that war would get worse on this planet. Currently it is mostly in the Middle East, though technically that entire area has been at battle since the beginning of time.

Don't get me wrong, there are many aspects of life that have gotten better. But don't fool yourself into thinking that everything is just going to improve from here on out. The world is falling apart. There's a storm coming, and the Jedi won't be able to do much about it.

Your post shows the exact mentality I was speaking about in my original message. The world has been shown by more then one reliable source to be getting better all the time. Ive shown how. We've proven the world is less violent. Yet the idea that its falling apart persists.

The overriding message is what counts: things is looking up
Lets spread the word!

+ a bunch of other stats

This graphic shows American wars and doesn't include civilian casualties, but it illustrates a point about modern warfare. Nearly one out of every four soldiers in the Civil War never made it home. The World Wars were obviously pretty brutal as well. We need to do better, but we're clearly headed in the right direction.