Douglas Carswell

Human Progress

It's bad news, isn't it?

Greece is poised on the verge of economic ruin. Half a million desperate migrants are likely to have crossed the Mediterranean this summer. A quarter of a million people have been killed in Syria.

These things are all truly awful. Yet when you consider the overall state of human kind, many things have actually got better.

I recently discovered Human Progress, an amazing new website that uses lots of facts and figures to show how much better things are today.

Think the world is getting more dangerous? Not so. We are living longer, safer lives, in a world that is notably less violent than it once was.

Concerned that we live in a world of injustice and inequality? Things are far from perfect, but the developing world has made remarkable progress within a few decades. Most folk around the world are much better off than their grandparents.

Fearful that the world is overpopulated? In fact birth rates are plummeting.

What really messes up the world are efforts by people to try to organise human affairs by grand design. Don't.  Stop it.  Left to human action, the world keeps getting better.

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