HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

The World Is Doing Better Than Ever. Here's Why You Never Hear About It.

Views:1015
@ReasonVids

Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know documents progress and explains why it happens.

----
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ReasonTV?subconfirmation=1
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
-----

"A huge amount of progress has taken place that a lot of people just don't take into account, especially smart people who are attending to the real problems of the world," says Ronald Bailey, Reason's science correspondent and the coauthor, with Marian Tupy of HumanProgress.org, of Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know: And Many Others You Will Find Interesting.

For instance: In 1990, the World Bank estimated that about 1.9 billion people lived in "absolute poverty," defined as surviving on the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $1.90 a day. By 2018, the number had dropped to 650 million, even as global population increased. If current trends continue, less than 5 percent of the planet's population will be in absolute poverty by 2030.

Despite ongoing problems in the Amazon and elsewhere, forests are expanding on net across the planet. "If you look broadly across the entire globe," says Bailey, "what you find is forests have expanded since the 1980s to an area that's about the size of Alaska and Montana combined, basically 800,000 square miles of land." And the world is getting safer, too, especially for poor people. "The chance of a person dying from a natural catastrophe—earthquake, flood, drought, storm, wildfire, landslide, or epidemic—has declined by nearly 99 percent since the 1920s and 1930s," write Bailey and Tupy.

Other positive trends include continuing economic growth and rising living standards around the globe, far fewer food shortages and famines, a decline in the number of autocratic regimes, and a reduction in major armed conflicts.

Bailey tells Reason that this massive ongoing progress is largely ignored because politicians and the media have an interest in foregrounding bad news—and because human beings, at least in the past 200 years, tend to take progress for granted. He says that's a mistake. Progress is the result of implementing better ideas for organizing society. "Basically," he says, "the Enlightenment happened." With that came the rise of representative government, property rights and markets, and especially the free speech and open inquiry that are essential for technological and social innovation.

Ten Global Trends functions as both a counter-argument to doomsayers and a warning to the complacent. Progress, says Bailey, doesn't just happen. "What we're trying to do with this book is to not let people take it for granted," he says. "If we keep the same institutions that enabled this, then much more of it will happen in the future."

Edited by Isaac Reese and John Osterhoudt. Graphics by Lex Villena and Reese. Feature Image by Villena.

Photos: Erik McGregor/Sipa USA/Newscom; Unknown/Heritage Art/Heritage Images AiWire/Newscom; Fernando Souza/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Fernando Souza/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Wayne Hutchinson Universal Images Group/Newscom; Andrew Woodley/Newscom; Caro/Trappe/Newscom

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
    Thumbnail for Every Political Ad Ever1:27
    Every Political Ad Ever
    ReasonVids
    992 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: Tulsi Gabbard (Full Interview)44:13
    Stossel: Tulsi Gabbard (Full Interview)
    ReasonVids
    867 views
    Thumbnail for Directions in Hexagonal Systems, Talking Head | Scott Ramsay10:29
    Directions in Hexagonal Systems, Talking Head | Scott Ramsay
    invidious
    492 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: Let Them Vape6:16
    Stossel: Let Them Vape
    ReasonVids
    970 views
    Thumbnail for Reason.tv's Nanny of the Month for October 20091:05
    Reason.tv's Nanny of the Month for October 2009
    ReasonVids
    974 views
    Thumbnail for This Took 1000x More Courage Than The American Women Cosplaying Oppression | Amala Ekpunobi9:34
    This Took 1000x More Courage Than The American Women Cosplaying Oppression | Amala Ekpunobi
    invidious
    186 views
    Thumbnail for The Great Replacement is a Conspiracy Theory (no sound)0:20
    The Great Replacement is a Conspiracy Theory (no sound)
    AOUisgay
    486 views
    Thumbnail for Just Let Me Drink My Juice1:30
    Just Let Me Drink My Juice
    bestofvoatxyz
    744 views
    Thumbnail for It goes from bad to worse.0:33
    It goes from bad to worse.
    bestofsaidit
    921 views
    Thumbnail for William Weld on Why Libertarians Can Trust Him as Vice President9:40
    William Weld on Why Libertarians Can Trust Him as Vice President
    ReasonVids
    847 views
    Thumbnail for LIVE: ABC7 Eyewitness News | ABC71:00
    LIVE: ABC7 Eyewitness News | ABC7
    invidious
    632 views
    Thumbnail for POV: you’re a bird on 4th of July | FunnyMemeSpot0:21
    POV: you’re a bird on 4th of July | FunnyMemeSpot
    invidious
    334 views
    Thumbnail for “Wife me up” Chili Garlic Noodles | Ian Fujimoto0:47
    “Wife me up” Chili Garlic Noodles | Ian Fujimoto
    invidious
    171 views
    Thumbnail for PUSH RANK COMPE PARTY ANOMALI PART 30 | RRQ Skylar4:43:27
    PUSH RANK COMPE PARTY ANOMALI PART 30 | RRQ Skylar
    invidious
    118 views
    Thumbnail for TX Cops Lobby to Ban Man from Exposing Speed Traps (Nanny of the Month, 3-14)1:42
    TX Cops Lobby to Ban Man from Exposing Speed Traps (Nanny of the Month, 3-14)
    ReasonVids
    970 views
    Thumbnail for Our outfits at the Kids Choice Awards! 👀✨😆 | Triple Charm #Shorts | Triple Charm0:23
    Our outfits at the Kids Choice Awards! 👀✨😆 | Triple Charm #Shorts | Triple Charm
    invidious
    116 views
    Thumbnail for Dear ladies--what's preventing you from looking like this?0:18
    Dear ladies--what's preventing you from looking like this?
    AOU
    1178 views
    Thumbnail for Information Liberated: Jeffrey Tucker on How Digital Media Subverts Government Power5:59
    Information Liberated: Jeffrey Tucker on How Digital Media Subverts Government Power
    ReasonVids
    986 views
    Thumbnail for Cameras vs. LAPD: Was A Photographer Interfering or Just Taking Pictures?4:40
    Cameras vs. LAPD: Was A Photographer Interfering or Just Taking Pictures?
    ReasonVids
    1051 views
    Thumbnail for Economist Richard Vedder on Why College Costs So Much9:36
    Economist Richard Vedder on Why College Costs So Much
    ReasonVids
    854 views
    Thumbnail for Me if there was an award for not being racist: | FunnyMemeSpot0:11
    Me if there was an award for not being racist: | FunnyMemeSpot
    invidious
    104 views
    Thumbnail for Conscription to meat batallion0:37
    Conscription to meat batallion
    bestofupgoat
    449 views
    Thumbnail for MS removed pixar ai style after disney complained0:58
    MS removed pixar ai style after disney complained
    bestofupgoat
    465 views
    Thumbnail for Ray Comfort, a jew, tries to guilt a German-American dude but quickly gets put in his place0:59
    Ray Comfort, a jew, tries to guilt a German-American dude but quickly gets put in his place
    bestofupgoat
    616 views
    Thumbnail for This explains a lot ...0:12
    This explains a lot ...
    bestofvoatxyz
    527 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle