Human Progress is not linear. The curve of human progress is a jagged one. Many of us are convinced that the world is worse, but as Tupy explains, that is due to one of our many biases. It seems as though our memory of bad events outweighs our memory of all the good we see on a daily basis. For example, what took you 60 minutes of work to buy in 1980 took only 21 minutes of work to buy in 2017.

What is the goal of humanprogess.org? Why do we notice bad occurrences throughout our lives more than good ones? What is negativity bias? Why is everyone so convinced that the world is getting worse if that is not what the statistics show?

Further Reading:

Human Progress website

Simon Abundance Index

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, written by Steven Pinker

Related Content:

The State of Humanity: Steadily Improving, written by Julian L. Simon

The Reality of Moral Progress, written by David Boaz

Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future, Free Thoughts Podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1083: Agony Column Live, June 4, 2011 Preview : Seeing the Future with Kim Stanley Robinson and Rudy Rucker