Opinion Is the world in decline?

[PrinceOfPain]

I am not sure why the original thread was deleted, but I thought it was a worthwhile conversation.
To me, it seems clearly apparent that the world is on the decline,

Inequality is growing for the vast majority of the world.
The number of people dying in wars has been on the increase for 5-10-ish years, after a long downward trend.
In 2016, the global homicide rate increased for the first time in about 40 years.
A record number of people have been displaced from their homes, creating the largest refugee population in history.
Democracy in general has apparently been in a state of global decline for over a decade.
One of the optimists's favourite metrics, global hunger has also been getting worse.

We're no longer living in a world where we can say, "things are better than they have ever been". No, we're not worse than we were 100 years ago, but we certainly appear to be worse off than we were 20 years ago.

 

[SalvadorCollie]

These kind of threads make real shit a joke.

gotta love Sherdog!

 

[Cajun]

And my kids watch "Blippi".... just kill me now

 

[SalvadorCollie]

And my kids watch "Blippi".... just kill me now

IDK, just be glad Dora gave up exploring. She probably found happiness in
Métete en tus asuntos.

 

[Wolfbrigade]

90 years ago there was a world war. World is not on a decline.

Grow up u fool.

 

[A-Level Wrestler]

I believe this is a central cause to a lot of the decline happening in the last 10years or so.

Very interesting video on how our psychology is being altered by mass Social Media and Internet consumption:

 

[Magooglie]

Downward blip on an overall upward trend? We'll see where things go in the next 50 years.

 

[Cole train]

We had like plus 10 years of peace now pendulum swings other way.

Also #freedomforrhodesia since ts made this thread lol​

 

[fedoriswar37]

No. Aside from the global pandemic things were on the right track. Stop watching legacy news (Fox cnn MSNBC). Fear and division is the language of these people

 

[Bacco]

World is showing that a western model that put money over society end up having weak feet

And this have nothing to do with right or left, wich is retards food

 

[SalvadorCollie]

The public is in decline, if it’s on tv we’re too stupid to think for ourselves.

 

[genecop]

No, just part of the process..everyone relax..

 

[Ruprecht]

Depends on where you stand. The global middle class has been increasing in size enormously, but the middle class in the wealthier developed nations has stagnated since the '80s.

Spoiler

 

[SalvadorCollie]

Think of gender and race. Name a better time in America for any of them.

I hope nobody here takes death lightly, especially from those supposed to serve and protect us. That video made me sick. Not at my country, but the lengths some people are willing to go.

Respect the badge, not always the person behind it.

 

[phoenixikki]

Yes. But the darkest hour is just before dawn. Those who choose the right side will be immensivelly rewarded for their patriotism.

 

[TheGreatA]

Probably going to need a longer period of time to observe, before coming to such a conclusion.

It's certainly possible though that we're going to meet the limits of what the current society model can offer. That's inevitable. All systems, no matter how seemingly infallible, come with an expiration date. Then they just need to be updated to account for the new realities, such as for example, the fact that resources might be running out.

 

[Sir Punchalot]

Life on Earth has been getting better and better for literally thousands of years. I doubt that trend is suddenly going to end during our lifetimes. A few bumps in the road are a given now and then. Doesn't mean you have to slit your wrists.

 

[SammyPops]

2020 seems to be driving off a cliff.

 

[PrinceOfPain]

90 years ago there was a world war. World is not on a decline.

And that world war helped to usher in an age of peace which we appear to be exiting, given the increase of smaller scale wars in the world and the increase in war deaths.
The global leveling out of military power could conceivably lead to an increase in regional hostilities around the globe.

No. Aside from the global pandemic things were on the right track. Stop watching legacy news (Fox cnn MSNBC). Fear and division is the language of these people

I am not American. I do not loyally watch your news media. Nothing I cited was impacted by the pandemic (actually, in some cases - such as murder rates and war deaths - the pandemic probably improved things in the short term).

Depends on where you stand. The global middle class has been increasing in size enormously, but the middle class in the wealthier developed nations has stagnated since the '80s.

Spoiler

This is an awkward one for me. I know that inflation, etc, is taken into account when compiling these statistics - but today's middle class does not "feel" as wealthy as, for example, the 1990s or '80s middle class. I can't dispute the facts, so I am not going to try and argue about the numbers you're giving, but do you think it possible that they do not accurately reflect what it means to be middle class?

Also, is the size of the middle class as important as the size of the wealth gap, which is also growing?

Probably going to need a longer period of time to observe, before coming to such a conclusion.

It's certainly possible though that we're going to meet the limits of what the current society model can offer. That's inevitable. All systems, no matter how seemingly infallible, come with an expiration date. Then they just need to be updated to account for the new realities, such as for example, the fact that resources might be running out.

I think my question would have been better phrased as, "are we returning to a more historically 'normal' state, after the extreme forward steps of the past 200 years?"

I know I am talking about the extreme short term when I am discussing a decade or two, in a historical context. But even 200 years isn't a long time, really.
I am not positing that we are descending into a new dark age.
More that we're settling, like a packet of crisps - or a slightly deflated dream.

Life on Earth has been getting better and better for literally thousands of years.

Well. No. You're just wrong.

 

[Ruprecht]

This is an awkward one for me. I know that inflation, etc, is taken into account when compiling these statistics - but today's middle class does not "feel" as wealthy as, for example, the 1990s or '80s middle class. I can't dispute the facts, so I am not going to try and argue about the numbers you're giving, but do you think it possible that they do not accurately reflect what it means to be middle class?

Also, is the size of the middle class as important as the size of the wealth gap, which is also growing?

Well it comes down to how you define a "decline". The growth of the middle class is a phenomenon in large parts of what was the "developing world". Some of the largest populations (China and India) have seen an enormous growth of their middle class, and you'd be hard pushed to argue that their world hasn't markedly improved by any measurable metric (typically life expectancy, educational achievement and income). On the other hand it's also true that this development has increased the degree of inequality between the richest and poorest. So if you consider that inequality inherently negative, then you have to justify why an increase in inequality outweighs the growth of the middle class. In developed nations you'd say it's worse due to the decrease in relative economic mobility and effective political disenfranchisement, but that's not really the case in countries like India or China.