Re:The World Is Getting Better and Nobody Knows It
by niftich on Sunday October 16, 2016 @07:16PM
(#12721642)
It's an interesting point of view; one often raised in less-serious contexts lamenting the 24-hour news cycle and the sensationalism of news. The psychology behind how we tend to remember bad events over good is also a likely contributor, as they point out.
But perhaps it's even more obvious why the survey-takers in such developed countries as Sweden, UK, and USA are of the belief that the world is not such a good place after all: it's not getting better for them.
The World Economic Forum came to this conclusion in their study asking essentially the same thing [1]. Globalization's main beneficiaries are developing countries' lower working class, who can luck out and be uplifted with higher wages and higher quality of life -- and, of course, the global rich. Meanwhile, the extreme poor and developed countries' working class sees little tangible improvement. This is reflected in the rise of political movements that are isolationist, protectionist, and anti-immigration, as they believe (whether rightfully or falsely, that's an open question) that those policies will improve their local fortunes when the opposite policies did not.
This appears to show that as the economic outlook of certain classes of people improves, the economic outlook of other classes remains stagnant or worsens. Some people insist that the economy isn't a zero-sum game -- and perhaps pedantically, they are correct -- but yet we observe this behavior time and time again. So what gives?
Re:The World Is Getting Better and Nobody Knows It
by Tempest1981 on Sunday October 16, 2016 @04:30PM
(#12720772)
And my first reaction was to find a flaw in their statistics.
I always questioned why the media reports every instance of "adults behaving badly". Is there an upside to the reader/watcher?
Excerpt: "Why do we make these false assumptions? Many of them are formed by the media, which reinforces a particular way of looking at the world – a tendency to focus on the dramatic and surprising, which is almost always bad news, like war, murder and natural disasters."
Re:The World Is Getting Better and Nobody Knows It
by toor2 on Sunday October 16, 2016 @06:49PM
(#12721520)
What about the rise of global mass surveillance, climate change and income inequality?
Poverty, hunger and crime levels aren't the only metrics that gauge 'world goodness'. This article screams "Don't complain, your problems don't matter, the world is better than it ever was!"
Re:The World Is Getting Better and Nobody Knows It
by Tempest1981 on Sunday October 16, 2016 @07:42PM
(#12721727)
The paragraph near the end addresses this, somewhat (to keep us from feeling too good):
"The fact that things have in fact been getting better – overwhelmingly so – does not guarantee progress in the future. After years of easy money and debt financing of companies and governments, a large-scale financial crisis is possible, when all the bills come due. Global warming may threaten ecosystems and affect the lives of millions. Large-scale war between major powers is possible. Terrorists could wreak havoc on a massive scale ..."
But perhaps it's even more obvious why the survey-takers in such developed countries as Sweden, UK, and USA are of the belief that the world is not such a good place after all: it's not getting better for them.
The World Economic Forum came to this conclusion in their study asking essentially the same thing [1]. Globalization's main beneficiaries are developing countries' lower working class, who can luck out and be uplifted with higher wages and higher quality of life -- and, of course, the global rich. Meanwhile, the extreme poor and developed countries' working class sees little tangible improvement. This is reflected in the rise of political movements that are isolationist, protectionist, and anti-immigration, as they believe (whether rightfully or falsely, that's an open question) that those policies will improve their local fortunes when the opposite policies did not.
This appears to show that as the economic outlook of certain classes of people improves, the economic outlook of other classes remains stagnant or worsens. Some people insist that the economy isn't a zero-sum game -- and perhaps pedantically, they are correct -- but yet we observe this behavior time and time again. So what gives?
[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/07/people-are-angry-abou...
I always questioned why the media reports every instance of "adults behaving badly". Is there an upside to the reader/watcher?
Excerpt: "Why do we make these false assumptions? Many of them are formed by the media, which reinforces a particular way of looking at the world – a tendency to focus on the dramatic and surprising, which is almost always bad news, like war, murder and natural disasters."
Poverty, hunger and crime levels aren't the only metrics that gauge 'world goodness'. This article screams "Don't complain, your problems don't matter, the world is better than it ever was!"
"The fact that things have in fact been getting better – overwhelmingly so – does not guarantee progress in the future. After years of easy money and debt financing of companies and governments, a large-scale financial crisis is possible, when all the bills come due. Global warming may threaten ecosystems and affect the lives of millions. Large-scale war between major powers is possible. Terrorists could wreak havoc on a massive scale ..."