The World Is Getting Better; Charts And Graphs

[josephpalazzo]

Philosophy ain't my thing but I believe they call that a conditional fallacy or if/then fallacy. Carry on.

Yeah, the people who have an unreasonable hate for the right will point out how the .1% at the top owe more than the 90% at the bottom. Now, I believe that should be reduced with higher taxation on the upper earners. But why the graph is significant is that it shows how many people lived under the poverty line. And this has diminished over a period of 30 years. So this is NOT about averages. But no system is perfect. What needs to be done, particularly in the USA, is to reduce the clout of the top earners, starting by repealing United Citizens Vs FEC, then introduce laws on election campaign funding. Take away this political tool from the rich, and you will see a USA much different than what we have now.

[stromboli]

Yeah, averages can be mean. 

[Sal1981]

This reminds me of an SMBC cartoon about Maximizing happiness.

[Hydra009]

But averages don't mean shit.  If the average person gets enough to eat, because there is one glutton and three other starving souls ... then the starving souls shouldn't be thankful, they need to kill and eat the glutton.

Your scenario is zero-sum - one person's doing well but only at the expense of others.  The scenario stromboli and I are presenting are across-the-board improvements that most definitely aren't zero sum.  Basically, this is an apples to Pluto comparison.

[Baruch]

Not so.  There are two men, they have 100 pennies each.  Due to some technical thing, there are now 1000 new pennies available, in addition to the 200 they already shared equally between them.  One man thought he was more deserving, and the other man agreed with him ... so the egomaniac got 900 of the new pennies, and now had 1000 pennies, and the depressed man got 100 of the new pennies, and now had 200 pennies.  On average, they had 600 pennies each ... and the economists were very happy.  But the man who was now rich, proceeded to use that power to screw over the depressed man ... who now became an oppressed man.  Have things improved?

Yes they have, for the uber-menschen.  Tell me all about Somalia, not about some upper middle class Yale graduate.

[Hydra009]

Have things improved?

Instead of engaging in bullshit comparisons, just look at the data.  Most countries' life expectancy has improved slightly even during the span of just a few years.  Since 1981, the difference is even more pronounced.  Denmark goes from 74 in 1981 to 80 in 2013.  Cuba goes from 74 to 79.  China goes from 67 to75.  Canada goes from 75 to 81.  Sudan goes from 54 to 63.  Even a periodic warzone like Afghanistan goes from 43 to 60.  Almost all other countries show this same marked improvement.  And to disregard this empirical evidence simply because it doesn't jive with your worldview is frankly no different from how fundamentalist Christians behave when faced with evidence they don't like.

*edit - another data table showing the same upward trend.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Seems to me that the world is doing just fine and has been for a very long time. The people living on the world's surface are quite another story. It really depends on where you live and the conditions in which you live.
Go to just about any homeless shelter and ask folks if the world is doing great and you probably won't get a round of applause.
The averages really are meaningless depending on many variables. Hunger is also subjective. I'm thinking about heading out to go get something to eat so I'm hungry right now, but on average I'm not all that hungry. I'm certainly not about to starve to death any time soon.
We have a presidential election coming up soon and the likely two candidates will be Clinton and Trump. Going by that alone the world is in a world of shit. On the other hand the vast majority of us will remain relatively untouched by the election and we'll go on about our lives as if it never happened.

[stromboli]

Seems to me that the world is doing just fine and has been for a very long time. The people living on the world's surface are quite another story. It really depends on where you live and the conditions in which you live.
Go to just about any homeless shelter and ask folks if the world is doing great and you probably won't get a round of applause.
The averages really are meaningless depending on many variables. Hunger is also subjective. I'm thinking about heading out to go get something to eat so I'm hungry right now, but on average I'm not all that hungry. I'm certainly not about to starve to death any time soon.
We have a presidential election coming up soon and the likely two candidates will be Clinton and Trump. Going by that alone the world is in a world of shit. On the other hand the vast majority of us will remain relatively untouched by the election and we'll go on about our lives as if it never happened.

Right. This graph I interpret as descriptive rather than inferential, a straight numbers graph. Like Hydra pointed out, we are living longer and are overall healthier. It is simple variability. Also note that all of the categories are mostly interrelated. You live longer because nutrition is better, less war overall means better economic advantage and so on. Of course you can point out individual variances as you can on any graph. Average (mean; apparently nobody got the joke) based on the comparison of two statistical data sets. any deviation from the mean charts a direction. The overall picture is derived by deviation in a negative or positive direction. Every graph is a plus or minus scale indicating overall direction; ain't any harder than that. 

[drunkenshoe]

So what happened to the reefuge crisis and islamic threat that is about to wipe out the Western culture and life style? All that crime that supposedly went off the roof in Europe in the last 10 years with muzzlims  them and all? Nothing moved for the worst in the last decade?

Though I think Syrians, Afghans and Irakis probably have a different world view. Esp. about capitalism. Thinking millions of them killed and had to move because of US and allies profits.


It just takes a few months of media manipulation to scare people; create crisis after crisis to build a perception for any kind of profit and political benefit. Who cares what is happening in reality? It really makes little difference to none if the world is getting better. Everybody wants to live in a world that serves their own purpose.

[PickelledEggs]

I forget who said it, but "The world IS getting better, but we just tend to show the bad parts in the news more frequently than in the past. And I think part of the reason it's getting better is because of that"

I'm paraphrasing too, because I heard that a few years ago and don't remember who said it or how it was exactly said, but that was the general idea

[josephpalazzo]

Yeah, averages can be mean. 

Especially if it thwarts the Mean Absolute Deviation in a Gaussian way...

[stromboli]

As long as you're grading on the curve. Let's see how many people can figure that one out. Ain't google wonderful?

[PickelledEggs]

As long as you're grading on the curve. Let's see how many people can figure that one out. Ain't google wonderful?

I went to college. I don't need to google that.

[Blackleaf]

In America, we have a black president and gay rights are officially a thing. Fifty years ago, that was unheard of. I'd say things are getting better.

[josephpalazzo]

As long as you're grading on the curve. Let's see how many people can figure that one out. Ain't google wonderful?

Yeah, the bell curve can get ugly...