Whenever you feel like the world is going under, there's no hope and progress is more of a dream than a reality, take a close look at this chart. Take a deep breath and look again.
Now think about it: global poverty levels have fallen from an astounding 94% in 1820 to about 10% in 2015, all while going from a population of ~1 billion to ~7,5 billion[1]. A truly remarkable achievement, which until not too long ago was literally unthinkable(remember Malthus, Ehrlich, etc?).
As I think about this more and more, it really becomes mind-blowing. There is perhaps no greater achievement with such an enormous immediate impact in both scale and scope.
To put it simple, in this case, progress meant the difference between life and death - for hundreds of millions of people.
Feeling really grateful to be alive today and have the opportunity to witness and be part of so many interesting experiments.
References
[1] - For a broader look on poverty data please see: https://ourworldindata.org/world-poverty/
Photo credit 1:
https://twitter.com/aei/status/735461691060813824
- aei
Photo credit 2: http://www.dream-wallpaper.com/photography-wallpaper/childhood-poverty-1-wallpaper/1280x800/free-wallpaper-19.html