Despite Everything, It’s a Great Time to Be Alive

Almost every hallmark of human misery has been improving for decades.

By
147

Whatever is going to happen with the election is going to happen. Most people have made up their minds, and it’s unlikely that any October surprise—or even a November surprise—will change that. The polls have been stable for literally years now, and as of this writing, more than 80 million votes have already been cast. By all means vote if you haven’t yet. But once you do, pour yourself the beverage of your choice, sit back and wait with the rest of us.

And while you’re doing that, maybe you should ponder that this is a great time to be alive.

I know, I know. The pandemic is bad. The economy, while rebounding, is still a mess for most people. Race relations, riots, left-wing mobs, right-wing militias, polarization—I get it. We have problems. I also understand that many people think that if their guy doesn’t win the presidency, we’re doomed.

But take a deep breath, zoom out from your Twitter and Facebook feeds or your TV screen, and look at the big picture. I mean the really big picture.

Keep reading with a free account
Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
147
By
Comments (147)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. V Addeman

    'Sure, global anti-poverty and public health programs have played a role ...'

    I like this argument because it acknowledges alternative, or additional, influences while simultaneously dismissing them. Yeah, these things helped, but they aren't as important as what I'm saying or as much as you might think.

    Collapse
  2. Avatar photo
    DavidK

    I agree with Jonah in aggregate. But, trends continue... until they don't. My principal fear for a coming Democratic administration is both perceived and actual weakness abroad, as well as an increasingly blithe and apathetic populace content in watching screens. Europe seems comfortable bargaining with Iran and Russia, and China now has a larger navy than we do. It may not be that long before their capabilities rival ours. How will we respond? Borrow more money? Maybe, do nothing. Much global prosperity has been the result of relative peace. I fear that that all the adults have left the room, and that it could get ugly. I hope I'm wrong.

    Collapse
  3. Danny Grizzle

    For a minute I thought Jonah had become Steven Pinker ... maybe if I take a more zoomed out view ...

    Collapse
  4. Tim Johnson

    I stumbled into a history degree but I'm glad I did, because it gives me the context to understand that - despite the efforts of politicians and tv news to make me angry for their own power and profits, respectively - we live in a WONDERFUL time, and we're blessed we can actually take concrete steps toward making it even better.

    Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    Victor Clairmont

    It’s a good time to be alive! Capitalism with all its flaws, has had a good run as Goldberg (and so many others from Steven Pinker point out constantly) in helping the world rather than hurting it.

    As for the war thing though, that has happened because America is the dominant force on the high sea’s. Whenever there is a world power throughout history (normally) whatever area they occupy tends to see less war than more. When Britain ruled the high sea’s, we saw less war between countries in Europe not more (once it was strong enough to impose its will on nations via trade and military might), in fact, when the sun set on the British empire, the Crimea War which was a precursor to WW1 and then WW2 broke out (it was a mini world war almost).

    When Rome was unified before its break between eastern and western empire, you had the Pax Romana, a period of time where within the empire, you could travel roads safely and order was well kept between conquered nations the closer you made it to Rome (not advocating conquering people, people). Yes the outside of the empire/borders had warfare with barbarian tribes, but there’s a reason people were fighting to become citizens of Rome for the rights they were given (I mean, just look how many people desperately try to become American citizens).

    We see similar situations with the Medo-Persian Empire, Babylonian, Greek, and this extends even to China with dynasty’s such as the Han dynasty, (500 years of war in China before it ended) or in Japan the Tokugawa Shogunate (came out of their war period from Oda Nobunaga, they also fought a long time).

    So, my point is, capitalism has brought prosperity yes, but it doesn’t bring peace always. That, today, is brought my military might and a nuclear arsenal that has never existed before. If there is not a standing army or nation to police the world, all capitalism does is make nations rich, so they can then invade each other and steal their riches.

    After all, Japan entered WW2 as one of their major reasons on the side of the axis of evil, because they needed the iron and copper mines of China to fund their industrial revolution (they also hate each other so that’s also there). Sometimes economics trumps religion and ideology, and so does greed.

    Tale as old as time. Let’s enjoy the Pax Americana while we have it.

    Collapse
  6. Avatar photo
    BWG

    Jonah, this all seems very reasonable, and very likely true. But you know what? People are never satisfied.

    Collapse
  7. Avatar photo
    Alexander

    Material standards of living are undoubtedly improving, both in the third world, where people are steadily lifted out of absolute poverty and even in the U.S., where the same inflation-adjusted income provides a much better life than it did two generations ago.

    My biggest concern, however, is that liberty has been on the retreat for the better part of a century, and with each passing decade, it only gets worse.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Mudskipper

      Things that I can do now that I couldn't do for a better part of a century:

      --Get a credit card in my own name
      --Go to an Ivy League school
      --Serve on a jury or actually have a jury of my some of own female peers
      --Obtain birth control
      --Apply for just about any job that a man can hold

      Collapse
    2. Tim Johnson

      Where's that? I've been on this earth for 50 years and can't think of something I could do before that I can't do now (except maybe not wear a seatbelt or dump motor-oil in the storm sewer).

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Keengle

        • bring a small highly useful pocketknife to school
        • maintain your dignity while boarding an airplane
        • sit on said airplane without your legs cramping because you can’t move them
        • smoke outside in public
        • let your children play in your own backyard unsupervised without being hauled before DHS or let them wait in the car for 5 minutes while you go into the supermarket—let alone discipline them in public
        • buy unpasteurized dairy products that actually taste good
        • buy high deductible; low premium (catastrophic only) health insurance—which is all a lot of people want!
        • walk down a city street without being tracked by a zillion cameras
        • hug a teacher in school
        • buy a lightbulb that produces light that looks nice
        • offer some benign service like hair-braiding without spending tens of thousands of dollars and 2000 hrs on licensing
        • let your kids have a small taste of beer
        • buy a cap gun

        Collapse
        1. Avatar photo
          scott

          A lot of local rules are silly. The licensing requirements are outrageous. But there are lots of places in the US where most of the things on your list are not an issue. Just throwing that out there.

          Collapse
          1. Ingenero.lux

            Not generally the same community. People are weird, and red and blue states have different ideas of freedom. One community may made it easy to let kids try beer when with their parents but ban unpasteurized dairy, while another may allow raw milk and arrest you for leaving your kids in the backyard. Few parts of the country, if any, are universally for freedom, they just want to keep some and reject others. And as far as I can tell, the polarity of the options is getting worse.

            Collapse
  8. John Anthony

    Very much preaching to a member of the choir with this piece, but the rhetorical twist: “[B]ut the skeptical reader should know that the authors draw from uncontroversial, mainstream sources such as the U.N., the World Bank, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and peer-reviewed academic studies” kind of threw this skeptic. Exactly whom among the skeptics of the world would find any of the four institutions you list beyond skepticism? Given that there isn’t anything uncontroversial anymore and that mainstream sources should be viewed with the most amount of skepticism these days, I might have chosen a more critical and substantiated review of the sources, one which didn’t require the skeptical reader to do their own due diligence.

    Collapse
  9. Avatar photo
    David Chen

    The question is whether 'Great Man History' works for the negative. Any great accomplishment requires a legion of competent well-led individuals, but a lot of historical disasters seemed to simply require a small number of colossal monsters/idiots.

    Collapse
  10. Avatar photo
    Bel Aves

    It is kind of weird that after asking people to think bigger, many on the thread did not take that tack. In 1860, average life span was 39. This was the norm for the first 4,800 years of civilization. In 1940 it was 67. Today it is above 80 - for ALL of us, not just the 1%. We talk of food insecurity and not about famine. We talk about the high costs of healthcare but for 99% of humanities' existence, healthcare was the village medicine person. Bleeding being one such "cure." Another was to leave the sick behind.

    War exists for people in Syria and Armenia today but prior to the past 60 years, war existed pretty much everywhere except 100s CE Rome or 450 BCE Persia. And COVID in Cuomo's New York? Try Justinian's Constantinople circa 545 CE. That plague took everyone but especially children. I think the point was that historically, there has been no better time, no better place.

    Collapse
    1. CatoTheElder

      A corrigendum to consider: Data from a very large population study in the US found rather distinct differences in life expectancy in the US for those in different economic classes.

      Here’s a link to a handy set of charts: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4866586/figure/F3/?report=objectonly

      Careful inspection of the charts, and the basic data, also reveals to us that life expectancy in the US has plateaued in recent years, or even fallen off a bit, and the negative trend is more pronounced for those in lower economic classes.

      Thus, it’s simply not true that the life expectancy for everyone is above 80. Indeed, there’s basically a decade difference in life expectancy between the richest and poorest in the US.

      Now, that’s not to deny the much larger changes in life expectancy, broadly considered, over the last couple centuries. The scientific and industrial revolutions paid off handsomely when evaluated in terms of the vastly increased life expectancy we now enjoy compared to our ancestors of only a few generations back. But I don’t think we’re at a point quite yet where we should simply be crowing about how wonderful it all is and all have a beer and hit the beach. Immense progress, yes. But we’re not done.

      I liken it to the crew of a passenger liner manning the lifeboats and going about plucking passengers from the water. Just ‘cause we’ve got 80% of the passengers in lifeboats—including all the richest folk—doesn’t mean we’re done. I say we don’t stop until we’ve got everyone in the boats that can be got into the boats.

      Collapse
Load More