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kharlos t1_j2hbs6j wrote

I see this a lot, but I think that if you think every year is just as bad or worse than the last, that's just you getting old and depressed.

It's normal to think the world is worse than it was when you were young. You'll seek out news and information to confirm that feeling.

It's good to maintain some perspective and be critical of your feelings. Having a bad year is normal, but the world isn't any worse than it was 100 years ago unless you're focusing on very specific cherry picked criteria.

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LazyGandalf t1_j2hr5p7 wrote

Historically speaking things are great right now, and in some areas there have been huge improvements compared to just a decade or two ago. One big problem though is that some key areas of living are definitely going in the wrong direction compared to a few decades ago, which is a time frame many people can personally relate to. For example millennials are poorer than their parents were, which is pretty much unprecedented in the last couple of centuries.

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notwearingatie t1_j2hc5k5 wrote

I mean, I appreciate your sentiment but even without cherry-picked criteria the planet as a whole is definitely worse. The environment, climate change, the risk of Mutually Assured Destruction. All pretty substantial things that weren't a threat 100 years ago.

That doesn't mean things aren't improving in other areas. But those improvements are meaningless if we're killing the planet.

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sacredfool t1_j2hg0r2 wrote

Hmmm.... You mean the wonderful 1920s?

Where large industry was totally unregulated, pollution was through the roof, workers had no rights and deadly workplace accidents were the daily norm?

Where anyone who tried to improve or protest those conditions was accused of being a communist and arrested, maimed or openly killed by the police?

The world which just emerged from a war that killed more people in a week than the whole Ukraine conflict and was heading into the largest financial crisis recorded, which would in turn give rise to another such war?

Yeah, I'd totally love to live in those times!

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Deanisgawd t1_j2inbuy wrote

You need a history lesson. Jesus.

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notwearingatie t1_j2ipqlc wrote

Tell me more about how the three things I specified; the environment, climate change and MAD were worse (despite the latter not yet existing as a concept) 100 years ago. Can't wait for this 'history' lesson.

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Polyhedron11 t1_j2isym6 wrote

You can't set aside the fact you literally said "the planet as a whole is worse" and deflect to just those three things. The person you just replied to was responding to your whole comment not just your cherry picked part.

I'm currently laying on a cheap non fancy couch curled up in a $20 Costco blanket. I've been displaced from my home due to a tree falling on it just days before Christmas.

My point is, I'm living better than a king from the medieval times. I'm eating better, more comfortable, have access to medical technology that would seem like witchcraft on crack, and yet I'm homeless and have no job.

More people today have a better life than the entire population back then. Are people still suffering? Fuck ya. Yet, crime of many kinds has been steadily declining, as well as other things as well.

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notwearingatie t1_j2kzjb5 wrote

Seems like you missed the last sentence from my original comment then. Your $20 Costco blanket, whilst great, isn't indicative of the planets condition. It won't save you when this rock becomes uninhabitable to live on.

Seems like my down-voters and replyers are all focusing on the human element, and not what my original comment was addressed at... The Earth. And we wonder why we are in this mess.

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hogger85 t1_j2jeho2 wrote

The noble peace prize was set up as Alfred Nobel worried his explosive would be used to end the world , and in 1914-1918 it was used to horrific extent in ww1 the war to end all.wars. anyone int he trenches of Normandy it was pretty apocalyptic and people.worried that could spread. Villages had Pals regiments and literally lost an generations of young men

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Potato_Octopi t1_j2hxnun wrote

The environment has been improving a lot. More forests, and less air and water pollution.

MAD or a war between great powers is low. We actually had big wars 100 years ago.

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