Is it all that bad? The recently passed Hans Rosling and his son Ola don’t think so. In fact, whenever the state of the world gets me depressed, I like to watch one of their TED talks.
Change takes time. Things are getting better, but they do so slowly. We as human beings on the other hand are not very good at perceiving slow change at all.
So, it’s not all that bad, right? It just takes time, right? Unfortunately it’s not that simple either. Change can go both directions. We can spend money on development and education, or we can pump it into a never-ending War on Drugs (or on Terror). Change is slow. This makes it hard to predict the consequences of, for instance, a Trump presidency. Consequences there’ll be though, that’s for sure. So, whatever consolation we get out of the Rosling’s message, it does not take away our duty to constantly try to give our best to improve this planet. Only then will statistics continue being on our side.