Is life on Earth getting worse and worse?

Question

Is life on Earth getting worse and worse?

Answer 1

Yes it is. And as to one of the answerers above me who stated that the "Western world" is better is wrong. We are all members of the same planet, thus we are all prone to the same things. The disparities in the world are getting worse and worse as the days go by: Depletion of the environment, the surge in Nuclear weapon availability, the disparities in the world when it comes to healthcare etc.  

Answer 2

yes

Answer 3

Just Greed

Answer 4

For humans? Nope: quite the opposite. Go back 200 years or more and life expectancy was very low due to...

* infant mortality

* death in childbirth

* plague

* cholera

* typhoid

* smallpox

* TB

* measles

* starvation

* violence

* tetanus

and so on.

Answer 5

In the western world things are certainly much better, health care, life expectancy, quality of life, and so forth, but of coarse there are area's of the world where things are no better at all, the sad thing is, that the rest of the world is now rich enough, and well informed enough and has the technology, to help the parts of the world which are in difficulty an awful lot more than we do.  We have what we need to make the whole world much better, but let political and social considerations get in the way.  In places with governments that don't allow us to help or are themselves causing their people to suffer, we should be doing so much more, we allow the considerations of a few governmental people, out-way the needs of hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of people. Life in the rich parts of the world is hugely better, but we are too selfish with what we have, but I am hopeful that this is slowly changing, that change needs to speed up:)

Answer 6

Aoqua forgot to mention Inquisition. Modern life has its share of difficulties, but at least I don't get an Inqisitor banging on my door when I listen to heavy metal.

Answer 7

not really, look at the past... i suppose you could say it has if you were being pessimistic but it is almost the same, their is still war, famine, disease but we know more of vaccinations, medicine, and more connectivity.

Answer 8

I find it quite funny how people can look back on the past and say "Oh those were the good old days..." because it is being overly idealistic.

I would like to bring out my inner history geek on this question. During the Great Depression, people would say "We want to return to normalcy". It was an ideological why of thinking. When you look back on the past, most tned to do so by remembering the good times. And there were plenty of good times before the Great Depression, but it was also filled with war and violence.

People think they are being sort of symbolic and "wise" in a sense when they say "Oh life has been getting worse on Earth." when it is really getting better. These people couldn't last one day if they were back 100 years. Over the past 100 years the life expectancy has nearly doubled, primarily because of the rising "art" of sanitation. Pigs used to be the garbage disposal system of America back in 1908. But as the pigs ate the packages the citizens left on the streets, they left some packages in return, so to speak.

With emerging medical technology cancer is no longer a death sentence and the bubonic plague is treatable. Giving birth is a daily routine in hospitals as before it was an often occasion that people would have babies at home with no medical assistance and it wasn't a rare occassion that either the mother or the baby died... and sometimes both.

People always say that I look at the glass as half empty. I think that looking at the glass as half empty only leaves room for improvement while thinking of the glass as already being full is looking upon the goals of mankind as almost achieved which is far from the truth.

Answer 9

Well now that the worldwide economy is going to collapse sooner or later, i would say its getting worse.

Answer 10

Looking at it from the USA we are doing very well. I have traveled around the earth quite abit. Many people live a life that your dog lives better..

U may need mental help...

Answer 11

if you mean life in general, no...

but if your'e refering to the subtle changes everyone is noticing, then yes.... the progress of 'abnormal' happenings has all but slowed... (animals relocating, stronger weather, etc etc)

Answer 12

Well one things for sure, it is getting more complicated.

It depends on how you look at it. On one hand, we have to ore to worry about and if you think about it we really aren't free. In the past, we could run around naked if we wanted and no one would care and there were less complications...eat reproduce and sleep were are primary functions But from a health point of view its getting better compared to the past.