We should look on the bright side

Never in human history have we had as good an era for people as we have now.

• We have seen the biggest expansion of democracy in generations.  A larger percentage of people get to vote for their governments than ever before.  We have seen peaceful and transparent transition of power become the norm.
• Global poverty is at record low levels.  This may not be what US and Canadian working poor are feeling, but world wide poverty is being rapidly reduced
• We are doing more to protect our environment and think into the future than ever before.  The problem is we may have pushed things too far for somethings
• We have the most educated population in human history.  It is not only educated in the traditional sense of going to school but because of the internet we have a lot more people that are actively literate.  In the past with TV and radio reading was not required, being on the internet requires being able to read.
• Technology is not only changing quickly, but it is allowing huge parts of the world to improve their lives in ways that would have been unimaginable 30 years ago.  We have people dreaming up of ideas to solve problems at a rate that is mind boggling.   We have seen a bigger change in technology in the last 15 years than we saw in the 50 years before that.   The world of 2014 is fundamentally better than that of 1984 because of the huge improvement of technology 
• War may still be happening but the idea that there could be some sort of major war between major countries no longer seems possible.  As recently as the 1980s the threat of a global war was there.
• Famine is now almost exclusively caused by deliberate actions of dictators.  I think global hunger may be something my youngest child will only read about as a historical event.
• Human rights matter more now than ever before
• The rule of law has become the norm around the world for the first time in human history
• Because of the increase in democracy, the rule of law, human rights, technology, education and reduction in poverty, more people than ever are able to take part in actively changing the world to be a better place.

Yes, there is still shitty stuff happening, but look at how well we are doing.  Lets celebrate how far we have come from 1984.