It is getting better

My grandmother used to say better before the war even apples had been better. Individuals and societies - many of us humans tend to embellish the past and complain about the present. This phenomenon is variously manifested but one question remains: Is the world really getting worse? And is that true in the past life used to be better?

The fact is that in the past people used to live in much worse conditions. Nowadays our life is much better in terms of its quality and in terms of life expectancy. With that statement may disagree various fundamental religious groups within Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In the Judeo-Christian tradition time is linear - it has the beginning and it has the end. In those traditions people are awaiting for the Judgement Day, Armageddon, the end of human history and punishment all wicked and unbelievers. Then in the paradise (on earth or in heaven) there will be everlasting true peace and justice. According to such beliefs before will be 'better' first must be 'worse' because only if there will be miserably enough here the God Almighty will intervene at the end of times. Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, referring to the Bible, believe that we live in the last days which are hard to bear, and soon God will bring the world to His divine order.

But the facts are that we live better and better. Take the account of the violence. In modern societies, death as result of violence affects only a small fraction of the population. We live longer, many diseases have been eliminated, and hygiene and living conditions have been improved. Old nightmares of humanity decimating population of the medieval Europe - famine and plague - have been eliminated in modern societies. Tourism and leisure have been invented. And I would say we just have started - our modern civilization just has started some 200-300 years ago with the industrial revolution.

The picture is different for preindustrial societies. According to some researches endemic tribal warfare and vendetta causes from 15% to 60% mortality in primitive populations still existing in places where time has stopped - e.g. Yanomami Indians of the Amazon jungle. In the Bible there are descriptions of unbelievable violence and cruel warfare. There were no human rights. Life was short, difficult and far more brutal.

If we take into account the history of mankind up to contemporary times we can notice without doubt the quality of our modern life is far better than reality everyday life of our ancestors.

See what says Steven Pinker about the myth of violence: VIDEO

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