5 Reasons Why Current Culture Is Great

Don’t get down. There’s never been a better time to be entertained

Culture is doomed, so they say.

Things are falling apart and we’ve reached some type of stagnation point where the only thing “new” anyone is discovering, are 19 year-olds watching Friends and Lost.

I keep reading articles like this one about how things are in constant decline, entertainment and life-wise.

However by many metrics, it’s never been a better time to be alive.

• Global life expectancy increased from 25–30 years (pre-1800s) to 73 years today (78 in the U.S., 85 in Hong Kong).
• Child mortality fell from 40–50% in Europe (18th century) to 4% globally.
• Average income rose from $2/day (pre-1800s) to $35/day globally (inflation-adjusted).
• Absolute poverty dropped from 90% (early 19th century) to less than 10% today.
• Literacy increased from 10% (1820) to over 90%.

There are lots of problems, but (gentle poke) there have always been problems, and human flourishing (overall!) is at an all-time high.

Kinda crazy, because that’s the opposite of what we’re used to seeing and hearing.