Take a moment to reflect on where we’ve come from – and where we are now.

Five hundred years ago, life expectancy was just 30 years, and nearly 90% of the world’s population lived in what we would characterise as extreme poverty. If you survived childhood, the likelihood of violent death was shockingly high, with rates of around 50 per 100 000 per year. Meanwhile, the idea of liberal democracy, let alone its practice, was non-existent, piped water was largely unheard of, and you would have had to labour around 60 hours to afford being able to light your home for an hour.

Fast forward a century, and life expectancy hadn’t budged much, remaining under 35 years. Extreme poverty still gripped over 90% of the global population, and the violent death rate was at 40 per 100 000. The idea of liberal democracy still did not exist. Water infrastructure was practically non-existent, and an hour of light cost over 50 hours of labour.

Three hundred years ago, life expectancy remained under 35, the poverty data was essentially unchanged, the violent death risk had come down to near 30 per 100 000  a year, piped water was still practically non-existent, modern democracy was still unheard of, and you would labour almost 40 hours for an hour of light.

Two hundred years ago that data started to turn.

Life expectancy exceeded 35 years, poverty levels broke to under 90%, the violent death risk fell to nearer 20 per 100 000, about 1% of the world’s population knew what might roughly be regarded as liberal democracy, 5% of people had piped water, and you would have had to work for half a day to light your home for an hour.

One hundred years ago global life expectancy had increased to around 45 years. Extreme poverty had dropped to between 60% and 70%, the violent death risk had come down to nearly 20 per 100 000, just over 10% of people lived in democracies, and around 25% had piped water. A single hour of light cost around 10 minutes of labor.

Today, global life expectancy stands at over 70 years. Extreme poverty has fallen to between 8% and 9%, a staggering reduction from the 90% that defined most of human history. Risk of violent death is at its lowest point in recorded history, at between 1 and 2 per 100 000. More than half of people live under some form of democracy. Piped water reaches about 80% of the global population. And the cost of basic services like light has plummeted, with a single hour now costing less than a second of labour.

Shorter-term doom-trends such as the melting of the ice caps have been largely debunked in serious places with the realisation that human ingenuity is more than sufficient to overcome the implications of largely natural changes in climate. Even Bill Gates has recanted. Fearmongering over the rise of Artificial Intelligence will go a similar way, with the technology likely to vastly raise global competitiveness and prosperity, at odds with the doomsday predictions of mass unemployment and the like.

While the world faces numerous problems of lesser or greater seriousness, the data on the overall tide of human progress is unmistakable. The interface of technology and democracy has produced the most extraordinary improvements in the safety, prosperity, and comfort of billions of people. Retaining that sense of perspective is important to fend off the near-constant assault of negative news and opinion that flows from a lot of the global press.