WHILE IT IS UNDOUBTEDLY THE BEST TIME TO BE ALIVE, THAT DOESN’T MEAN IT’S THE EASIEST
In my book Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope, I wrote about how, by most material metrics, today is the best time in world history to be alive. We are safer, healthier, less violent, more tolerant, more educated, and more literate than ever before. We have more economic freedom, more knowledge, more entertainment, and more connectivity than any other time in world history.15
But… this abundance of information and opportunity takes a psychological toll. It makes it more difficult to find meaning and purpose. It creates the struggle to manage your own attention. And it exposes you to more awful things than ever before.
I call this the Paradox of Progress—the better the world gets, the higher our expectations become for the world, and the more we struggle to find meaning and significance in our daily life.
Therefore, while today is undoubtedly the best time to be alive, in many ways, it’s not the easiest time to be alive. While the physical struggle for survival has dissipated for most of the planet, the psychological struggle for meaning has multiplied.
What does all of this mean for the 2020s? Well, coming out of a decade so dominated by public pessimism, I’m oddly optimistic. There have been growing pains as we deal with the effects these new technologies have on society. But the more aware we become of our own faculties and inherent limitations and the more context we gain about the world around us, the better things will become.
So here’s to the coming decade. Let it be less confusing and disorienting than this one!
Great one