Current Events > Do you think the world is getting worse, better?

(+) Yeah! (+)

which?

I'm making it worse
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its hard to say, most peoples world view is so small and idea of better is vast. id say its an impossible question to answer objectively. see below.

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better in a sense but we've created new problems along the way

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bump

Worse by far.

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The world is always generally trending towards better. Crime overall goes down, disease goes down and life expectancy goes up. New technologies make life easier and better. If you ever think the world is worse than X years ago you just have a limited world view and need to get outside your bubble.

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It's getting worse because we're running out of helium

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Only a nave fool would think the world is getting better. World wide people are openly embracing fascism, Dictatorships are becoming more widespread, 2 out of 3 of the most powerful nations in the world have dictatorships with the 3rd only failing because of incompetence and as resources are starting to disappear people take their frustrations out on minorities of race,religion and sexuality.

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tremain07 posted...

Only a nave fool would think the world is getting better. World wide people are openly embracing fascism, Dictatorships are becoming more widespread, 2 out of 3 of the most powerful nations in the world have dictatorships with the 3rd only failing because of incompetence and as resources are starting to disappear people take their frustrations out on minorities of race,religion and sexuality.

yeah all this on top of the minor problem that the earth is in energy imbalance thanks to human activity such that the planet will become inhospitable to life in a matter of decades

nah things are lookin good

Its overall getting better but the past generations are always more cynical and feel things have gotten worse because theyre not the way they used to be.

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specialkid8 posted...

disease goes down and life expectancy goes up.

In the US, life expectancy has gone down five of the last six years
https://www.voanews.com/science-health/after-4-years-decline-us-life-expectancy-rises-little
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/us-life-expectancy-drops-year-half-2020-amid/story?id=75965992

Anyways, I think in general we're seeing better conditions for racial and sexual minorities in the western world, while simultaneously careening towards climate disaster that will immiserate hundreds of millions in the decades to come.

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will get better in the longrun but we are certainly in a dip at the moment and it might last a while
also, to some others in this topic - the USA is not "the world"
the USA will look much different in 10 years i reckon

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Better but I'm planning on going to Mars asap

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In most ways better. Anyone who thinks otherwise is laughably ignorant of history.

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Undeniably worse

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All this technology and we're still letting the planet die because we would rather die rich than leave our grandchildren a habitable environment.

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tremain07 posted...

Only a nave fool would think the world is getting better. World wide people are openly embracing fascism, Dictatorships are becoming more widespread, 2 out of 3 of the most powerful nations in the world have dictatorships with the 3rd only failing because of incompetence and as resources are starting to disappear people take their frustrations out on minorities of race,religion and sexuality.

Yeah except...

We literally had segregation prior to the civil rights movement. We literally had slavery. We literally had Hitler and other dictators. Homosexuality has only just been mainstream to accept.

Society has been improving, and that's a fact.

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Squall28 posted...

Yeah except...

We literally had segregation prior to the civil rights movement. We literally had slavery. We literally had Hitler and other dictators. Homosexuality has only just been mainstream to accept.

Society has been improving, and that's a fact.

We still have massive ugly arguments over race. Systemic racism has gone nowhere. Human trafficking is still a worldwide phenomenon hurting millions of people. There are dictators all over the world and America didn't even punish an attempted coup. Many countries and political parties still fight to unaccept homosexuality or keep it banned.

We're just animals with electricity, worse than other animals in some ways.

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hockeybub89 posted...

We still have massive ugly arguments over race. Systemic racism has gone nowhere. Human trafficking is still a worldwide phenomenon hurting millions of people. There are dictators all over the world and America didn't even punish an attempted coup. Many countries and political parties still fight to unaccept homosexuality or keep it banned.

We're just animals with electricity, worse than other animals in some ways.

"Arguments" about race is not comparable to slavery. GTFO

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The question asked is if the world is getting better. Relatively speaking when referencing history, it absolutely is. We had two world wars 100 years ago. North America had slavery for a long time. There were witch hunts and we burned them at the stake only a few hundred years ago.

We're living in luxury right now.

Overall the world is getting better, while at the same time coverage of the bad stuff is increasing making it seem like the world is getting worse.

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I remember reading a study about this question. It actually strongly correlates with IQ: People who answer the world is getting worse vs better have a lower IQ on average

https://lifehacker.com/the-cognitive-biases-that-convince-you-the-world-is-fal-1822620516

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I think the world is driving head on into a series of catastrophes that will devastate life as most people know it in a matter of decades.

The fact that quality of life is improving for many people doesnt mean that the world is actually getting better long-term. By ignoring these future crises the world gets more doomed day by day.

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I swear to god people on CE are depressed as fuck. Obviously COVID doesnt help, but holy hell some of yall need to take a happy pill.

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https://youtu.be/fye4uY3pCvo

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By all observable metrics, the world has been improving overall.

but at the same time, the improvements feel...I dont want to say insufficient. Not hollow...I dont know how I would articulate it...but like...

Like in the US for example, abolishing slavery was a 100% positive. But the forces that enabled slavery never really went away, and have been weaponizing the countrys freedoms to poison society for over a hundred years now.

then the Holocaust happened during WW2. A heinous even that everyone can look at and realize was evil and should never be allowed to happen again. But when genocides are committed in the modern era, people with the power to do something turn a blind eye to it.

idk. It feels like, somehow were making progress without actually changing anything. I dunno how to explain it.

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everyone who picked worse is incredibly fucking ignorant and self-obsessed

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"the world? that means america, right?"

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Overall society is overall trending up even if certain people kick and scream trying to stop it. Which have always existed. As have the people who think society is getting worse.

But it all really depends if our disregard of the climate and environment kick our ass in retaliation down the line. That's really the concerning factor.

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bump

Better short-term, worse long-term.

We are completely fucking the planet and we may not feel the effects immediately or even in our lifetime, but eventually our society will collapse unless we pull our heads out of our asses.

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Back then if you were accused of being a witch you were done for.

I think it's a bit better these days.

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My views at 10: I don't know much about the world.
My views at 20: This world is full of morons or is it just me?
My views at 30: same shit different year.

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I think places that we call the third world are going to improve quite dramatically, and extreme poverty will probably be eradicated sometime in the near future.
but here in the so called first world we really have to try and put a stranglehold on a growing technocracy and the usage of things like social media to essentially expel people from society.

Little of column A. Little if column B.