Be optimistic.

The 24 hour news cycle delivers a steady stream of reasons to be pessimistic. Inequality, disease, poverty, violence, despots, planetary collapse from climate change, among others.  Each of these challenges pose unique and serious threat to our shared future.  However, there are reasons to believe that we can overcome most or all of our challenges if we are confident, optimistic, creative, entrepreneurial, focused and courageous to create the world we want.  Why do I believe this?  Because the world has never been a better place to live, and we have an incredible track record of making progress on massive, intractable problems.  

Don’t believe me?  I don’t blame you.  I didn’t believe it either.  But when I looked at the evidence, I started to change my mind.  I want to share some of that evidence with you.  Does it mean we don’t have challenges?  Of course not.  We have massive, intractable challenges that threaten the future of our existence on this planet.  What it does mean is that we should be more optimistic, confident and focused in our drive to make progress on these challenges, just as we have in the intractable challenges listed below:

  

LIFE Expectancy

Life expectancy has increased dramatically over the past several decades.  Improvements in child morality, health and nutrition have played important roles. The average person lived 53 years in 1960.  Yes, 1960.  In 2010, the average life expectancy reached nearly 70 years.

 

Freedom

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Poverty

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VIOLENCE

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SANITATION

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