December 13, 2012
The World is Getting Worse (and Other Lies)
Like millions of other Americans over Thanksgiving weekend, I went to see Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, Lincoln. I was mesmerized by Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal of the great statesman. I was also deeply moved by the thrilling depiction of the moral awakening at the film’s climax, in which the 13th Amendment for the abolition of slavery was passed by the House of Representatives. But there was something else about the film that struck me even more. And that was a powerful recognition of how much progress we have made since those tumultuous days in the middle of the 19th century.
Think about how much blood was spilled only 150 years ago to free the slaves, and now we almost take it for granted that we have a black First Family in the White House. Or consider the dramatic change in our standard of living—a rise in the quality of life for so many people today that would be unimaginable to even well-to-do politicians in the 1800s.
It makes me wonder why so few people these days seem to notice how much our world has changed and continues to change for the better. As a matter of fact, the majority of my progressive-thinking, spiritually oriented friends and colleagues tend to predictably lament on one terrible truth or another about humanity’s seemingly unbroken predilection for ignorance and self-destructive behavior. The general trend of the narrative goes something like this: “Isn’t it shocking and appalling how selfish, materialistic, insensitive, greedy, shortsighted, and just plain dangerous we are as a species?” Some even go so far as to actually say that the earth was a better and more spiritually intact place before human beings appeared and, slowly but surely, started messing things up.
Oh, yeah, and before I forget . . . another current trend is the big fascination with the date of December 21st, 2012. Many people seem to be convinced that we are on the brink of either some huge catastrophe or some major quantum leap in our development as Homo sapiens. It’s like we’re either all going to hell in a handbasket or the Second Coming is about to happen (when we’ll all be miraculously saved from impending doom).
In the midst of all this, I don’t understand why so many are obsessed with the end of the world when maybe we should be grateful for just how much better things are for more of us in 2012 than ever before. Recently, I’ve read some eye-opening new insights highlighting how much progress we’ve made from people like Stephen Pinker, Matt Ridley, and Stephen Johnson. Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:
Increased Standard of Living:
- The number of people living in poverty (less than $2.50/day) has decreased from 75% in 1981 to 57% in 2005.
- Infant mortality rates have fallen over 60% internationally over the past 50 years.
- Life expectancy across the world is over 30% higher today than it was in the 1960s.
- Worldwide food production per capita rose over 11% between 1990 and 2009, even as the global population increased by 1.5 billion.
Reduced Violence:
- Between 1973 and 2009, the number of violent crimes in the U.S. has dropped from 48 to 16 per 1,000 people.
- The number of people per million (total global population) who have died in armed conflict dropped from 235 in 1950 to 2.5 in 2007, despite an increase in the number of smaller conflicts.
- The EU was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “transforming Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace.”
- Since WWII there have been no more “Great Wars” and international conflict has continued to decrease dramatically.
- The fact that “bullying” has become a national issue in America speaks volumes to the degree to which we have become a more civilized people.
Decrease in Disease:
- Cancer rates in the U.S. are on the decline and are lower than they were in 1975.
- Since 1990, the number of people with access to improved sanitation has increased by 50%.
- AIDS is in slow retreat throughout the world. According to the UN, “There were more than 700,000 fewer new HIV infections globally in 2011 than in 2001. Africa has cut AIDS-related deaths by one third in the past six years.
- Due to advances in stem cell research, nanotechnology, and gene therapy, we’re poised to manage/cure a variety of diseases, such as most forms of cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, Multiple Sclerosis, blindness, and many others.
If Honest Abe was to hear some of this, he might even start smiling in his grave. But this does not mean to deny that we’re simultaneously being confronted with enormous problems. As Swedish doctor and world-renowned statistician Hans Rosling said, “You have to be able to hold two ideas in your head at once: the world is getting better and it’s not good enough!” The continued degradation of the biosphere and the extinction of more and more species each day are just a few of the overwhelming challenges that we’re facing. And one only has to read Bill McKibben’s Rolling Stone article “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math” to see the intimidating threat that climate change poses to life as we’ve known it.
In spite of this, my simple point is that it doesn’t seem like we’re on the edge of the apocalypse yet. In fact, looking back through the long lens of human history and recognizing how much progress we’ve made, not only since the 19th century but since the dawn of human civilization, I’d say that quite the opposite is true.
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This post was originally published on Andrew Cohen’s BigThink.com blog, The Evolution of Enlightenment.
Join Andrew Cohen in a free live dialogue with integral philosopher Ken Wilber about the dangerous allure of apocalyptic thinking on December 21st, 2012. Click here to register.
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Andrew Cohen is a spiritual teacher, cultural visionary, founder of EnlightenNext, and the author of 
Thank you, we often forget this, I find it so important to acknowledge our growth, our Divinity! and not simply dwell on all the pain in this beautiful world
These are the best of times, these are the worst of times . . . and always will be.
Yes , there has been tremendous progress in the field of science, medicine and technology which has raised living and comfort level of people in general around the globe. The flip side is that there is corresponding rise in stress level, consumerism, selfishness and yes, terrorism. Avaricious and mindless exploitation of the earth and natural resources, environmental pollution is the price of the ‘ progress’. If we have progressed materially, we are getting bankrupt spiritually.
Thank you so much, Andrew Cohen, for shining the Light on the brighter and more Beautiful side of Life. We do forget sometime that we live in a world of duality, and that the whole view is much clearer, when we look at Life from a broader perspective. And more profoundly, to come to know, to remember, and to act from the reality that we are the breath and depth of the evolutionary process of this day and time inwhich we Live, move and have our Being.
hard to feel that way in the past twenty years as the safety net has been decimated – and you just lost your job before christmas and you know way to many people suffering through miserable existences of despair – trying to keep the faith, grateful for the roof over my head (for now), inside sanitation, running water and food stamps.
Do you agree that we need to raise the collective human vibration? Is it really possible?
I find that vision as a wishfull thinking not as a reality, statistics are usually structured as a marketing information just as the democracies are held by those who own money and power. Trying to be positive will not improve the reality of this planet of competitive values and lack of solidarity.
I challenge whether this quote is true. It seems to me that the world has got considerably worse since the last few hundred years…this is not to say i would have preferred to live then, as each era has it’s own difficulties. But the world has “progressively” forgotten God, and the more “progressively” it has done so, the less human it has become. The new forms of slavery are human trafficking, alcoholism, gambling and porn addiction, workaholism, gymaholism, the reduction of the human to the “image” one projects, and the slaughter of the Innocents (abortion) on the altar of the god of economy, the good life, comfort, for an improved standard of living… there are just as many forms of slavery than before (just try talk to someone who is or has been trapped or involved in any of the above), and the numbers are huge. Progress? Hmmmm….this quote just shows how much we are truly confused. British high school children are sent to Auschwitz as part of their school curriculum and can get the “day-after-pill” over the counter in pharmacies to kill the new life already growing in them. Ironic, hey? It’s just that we are all in this mess, me included, and the confusion is the confusion of the “I”. Who am I? Where do i come from? Where am I headed? WHY DO I EXIST? To live a nice comfortable life and then have a photo album of it when I die? No amount of “progress” will satisfy my need for answers to the real questions.
Love your post. Well said, and I agree with your observations and concerns. To answer the questions “Who am I, Where do I come from, and Where am I headed – Why do I exist”…..To live a nice comfortable life and then have a photo album of it when I die . . .is indeed depressing and a seemingly useless reason to exist. My mind immediately recalled things learned as a child that I have not remembered for a LONG time….didn’t even know I remembered it. . .but it has shaped my life and given me a reason for being and a path to follow that hopefully will be passed to my children’s children and beyond. It fills me with a great inner peace and feeling of being guided in the right direction. Who is God? God is the creator of all things. Who made me? God made me. Why did God create me? God created me to Love Him and Serve Him all the days of my life and share His love with others. Where am I headed? There are different levels of existence in the universe just as there are colors we cannot see and pitches of sound we cannot hear with our limited “physical” body – there is a realm that we cannot see or hear now because we are living on the physical, materialistic plane of existence. Each of us has the capacity, the inner spark of the Divine (soul) in us and that will continue to live on in some way that I do not understand because I have not evolved to that level yet – death will bring me to the realization of it. I guess the song from the 80′s sums it up best. “Love is the Answer”.
To be fair and honest, the world is niether getting better nor worse. In the past 100 years this world has gone through a global depression, two world wars, civil rights, a major shift in industry, etc. However, the world is still the same world that it has always been and always WILL BE. Just go to freaking Afghanistan and tell me the world is getting better. It’s like Tupac (RIP) said: “**** all you peace loving ******.”