Often I hear negative remarks about the state of humanity, culture, and the world. I'm not saying there are not some deep serious issues that need to address, but I also wonder, "compared to what?". Watching something like Star Trek can feel we are in a terrible state, but historically speaking the 21st century is the best time ever to be a human.
Some of these improvements are lost on people because they individually, or even as a community, have not seen the same type of increase in quality of life that many parts of the world have enjoyed. Also, good news tends to be trends over time, while bad news is event based and gets focus altering our perception. We have plenty of work to do and a long way to go, but I'd not want to be born any sooner than I was.
