Vitality

or decline

Here’s a simple question that seems impossible to answer: “Are things getting better or worse?”

Strong man politicians around the world are trying to convince us that the world is getting worse. Their main claim is that life is getting more difficult. There is more suffering and pain. They hope that we will become afraid and submit to their efforts to fix things.

But we also hear a lot about things getting better. The world is currently experiencing a significant step-change in technology. Artificial intelligence enthusiasts tell us that thanks to this new technology, life and work will become almost infinitely better. Things will get easier, there will be more pleasure in life. And, so it goes, we should rapidly adopt these technologies.

But how would we tell if things are improving or declining, on the whole and overall? Is it really about difficulty and suffering as opposed to easefulness and pleasure? Or is there a better way to make this judgement?

There are philosophical and spirit…