25 charts and maps that show the world is getting much, much better

[Axulus]

I have to disagree with the Moore's law claim. So far as I know, Moore's law is still valid largely because we keep changing the definition.

Yeah, I found that one a little spurious as well. However, the data they show only goes through 2011, and they link to a 2014 NYT article that discusses future chips that should allow it to continue for at least another decade.

 

[Underseer]

I have to disagree with the Moore's law claim. So far as I know, Moore's law is still valid largely because we keep changing the definition.

Yeah, I found that one a little spurious as well. However, the data they show only goes through 2011, and they link to a 2014 NYT article that discusses future chips that should allow it to continue for at least another decade.

That's pretty weak, and frankly compared to some of the other things on that list, who really gives a [bad word] about Moore's law?

 

[Axulus]

Yeah, I found that one a little spurious as well. However, the data they show only goes through 2011, and they link to a 2014 NYT article that discusses future chips that should allow it to continue for at least another decade.

That's pretty weak, and frankly compared to some of the other things on that list, who really gives a [bad word] about Moore's law?

More computing power per dollar opens up additional ability for productivity and innovation that has yet to be fully realized as people and organizations figure out ways to best utilize the additional computing power.

One possible revolution coming is in the virtual reality realm, which will likely revolutionize entertainment and education. However, the processing demands are great, especially as resolution won't top out until ~16Kx16K per eye.

 

[bilby]

That's pretty weak, and frankly compared to some of the other things on that list, who really gives a [bad word] about Moore's law?

More computing power per dollar opens up additional ability for productivity and innovation that has yet to be fully realized as people and organizations figure out ways to best utilize the additional computing power.

One possible revolution coming is in the virtual reality realm, which will likely revolutionize entertainment and education. However, the processing demands are great, especially as resolution won't top out until ~16Kx16K per eye.

In my experience, programmers rapidly work out that the 'best' way to use extra processing power is to stop giving a crap about writing good code, and to soak up all the gains (and more) by pure laziness.

 

[Axulus]

More computing power per dollar opens up additional ability for productivity and innovation that has yet to be fully realized as people and organizations figure out ways to best utilize the additional computing power.

One possible revolution coming is in the virtual reality realm, which will likely revolutionize entertainment and education. However, the processing demands are great, especially as resolution won't top out until ~16Kx16K per eye.

In my experience, programmers rapidly work out that the 'best' way to use extra processing power is to stop giving a crap about writing good code, and to soak up all the gains (and more) by pure laziness.

But that means there is still low hanging fruit to optimize code should Moore's law stop and computing power per dollar growth decline significantly. I would say it isn't really a matter of laziness but rather lack of incentive to optimize code given that the computing power with which they currently have available will be obsolete in a year or two under present conditions.

We are already seeing a big shift with virtual reality development (which I have been following pretty closely the past six months). Programmers are going back to the basics as they attempt to program compelling content for 1440p resolution at a minimum of 60hz in stereoscopic 3D powered by a mobile phone (for the Samsung GearVR).

The additional computing power in accordance with Moore's law is still good news since it keeps options open for future code optimization.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Sure, you may be doing better as humans, but you're way too far gone way too long ago. We took a vote and humanity's time is up. It is time for the Penguins and Dolphins and Bonobos to rule.

 

[arkirk]

A lot of the charts appear to be full of errors and do not show and cannot even begin to gather a lot of information necessary for them to be accurate due to there being large areas that are war zones. War is definitely not down from a year ago or two years ago or three years ago. Are refuges counted as homeless? The charts appear to me to be a whole lot of feel good crap.

 

[bilby]

A lot of the charts appear to be full of errors and do not show and cannot even begin to gather a lot of information necessary for them to be accurate due to there being large areas that are war zones. War is definitely not down from a year ago or two years ago or three years ago. Are refuges counted as homeless? The charts appear to me to be a whole lot of feel good crap.

So you are saying that:
A) The truth about whether war is more prevalent or less prevalent is impossible to know, even for those who have put years of study into the issue, due to a lack of data; and
B) You know the truth, and that it is that the people who have spent years studying the issue are wrong.

Are you 100% happy with the logic of your position here?

 

[AthenaAwakened]

And the point of this thread is what?

 

[untermensche]

And the point of this thread is what?

If all we look at is a few obscure cherry picked data sets we can divert from the fact that opportunity for young Americans is rapidly shrinking.

 

[laughing dog]

People are getting taller?

Demonstrates the decline of malnutrition

I thought it demonstrates the increase in sunlight and warmth.

 

[funinspace]

Regarding chart #5, on "The share of income spent on food has plummeted in the US": From the cited link: "Between 1960 and 2007, the share of disposable personal income spent on total food by Americans fell from 17.5 to 9.7 percent".

Americans may be spending less of their income on their food, but we are also much more over weight. Maybe spending so little on our food isn’t a great thing….

 

[EricK]

Regarding chart #5, on "The share of income spent on food has plummeted in the US": From the cited link: "Between 1960 and 2007, the share of disposable personal income spent on total food by Americans fell from 17.5 to 9.7 percent".

Americans may be spending less of their income on their food, but we are also much more over weight. Maybe spending so little on our food isn’t a great thing….

View attachment 2089

Or maybe that shows that they should be spending 5 percent of their disposable income on food.

 

[ksen]

Furthermore, have you ever once considered that the system that creates the most wealth may also be the one that results in the wealth being concentrated, and this may actually be the better outcome for the poor compared to one that limits the concentration of the wealth but severely stunts its creation?

Have you ever considered those aren't the only two options?

 

[untermensche]

Or maybe that shows that they should be spending 5 percent of their disposable income on food.

The problem isn't the amount of food people are eating. It is the kinds of foods people are eating.

Mostly it is about the amount of sugar people are eating.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Yes and no.

In general I agree, the lot of the poor in China has been going up. I've been going there since the late 90s, the changes I have seen are tremendous--and the changes my wife has seen dwarf what I have seen.

However, in the last couple of years food prices have been going up rapidly--faster than my impression of how the income of the poor has gone in those years.

That is anecdotal. Food has been inflating faster than overall inflation, but overall inflation remains within reason:

And you trust the numbers from the Chinese government?

 

[EricK]

Or maybe that shows that they should be spending 5 percent of their disposable income on food.

The problem isn't the amount of food people are eating. It is the kinds of foods people are eating.

Mostly it is about the amount of sugar people are eating.

View attachment 2091

Although presumably someone, say, who is eating 4,000 calories a day and spending $20 could eat 2,000 calories a day and spend $10, and lose weight, and save money, without changing the kinds of food they eat.

 

[untermensche]

Although presumably someone, say, who is eating 4,000 calories a day and spending $20 could eat 2,000 calories a day and spend $10, and lose weight, and save money, without changing the kinds of food they eat.

If only it was that simple.

But poisoning yourself with sugar has many effects. One of them is an alteration of hunger impulses.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

People are getting taller?

Better nutrition in childhood. I've gotten a very obvious example of this in China.

When I first went there in the late 90s I could see over the heads of crowds. Basically nobody's hair reached eye level for me. Remember, though, China opened up in the 80s and the economy boomed. In the 2000s the babies born once things opened up were reaching adulthood--and I can't see over the crowds anymore. I'm still taller than basically everyone around but it's not the dramatic difference it used to be.

 

[fromderinside]

See the link for details. Here are the 26 things:

1. Extreme poverty has fallen

2. Hunger is falling

3. Child labor is on the decline

4. People in developed countries have more leisure time

5. The share of income spent on food has plummeted in the US

6. Life expectancy is rising

7. Child mortality is down

8. Death in childbirth is rarer

9. People are getting taller

10. More people have access to malaria bednets

11. Guinea worm is almost eradicated

12. Teen births in the US are down

13. As is smoking

14. War is on the decline

15. Homicide rates are falling in Europe...

16. ...and the US too

17. Violent crime in the US is going down

18. We've rapidly reduced the supply of nuclear weapons

19. More and more countries are democracies

20. More people are going to school for longer

21. And literacy is, predictably, up as well

22. The US unsheltered homeless population has fallen by nearly 32 percent since 2007.

23. Moore's law is still going

24. Access to the internet is increasing

25. Solar power is getting cheaper

http://www.vox.com/2014/11/24/7272929/charts-thankful

Against this we have Contribution of global groundwater depletion since 1900
to sea‐level rise http://aquadoc.typepad.com/files/konikow_2011b-1.pdf

This maps two bads, sea level rise and irrigable aquifer water depletion, into the prospect of less land available for people and less water available for people. By making today's peoples lives better we are sacrificing tomorrow's peoples lives and perhaps humanity and life itself. Way to got forward thinking humans. How humanistic of you to care so much for now.

- - - Updated - - -

People are getting taller?

Better nutrition in childhood. I've gotten a very obvious example of this in China.

I'm still taller than basically everyone around but it's not the dramatic difference it used to be.

As I just pointed out how things are now compared to yesterday is probably not really a good thing.