Originally posted by galveston75
At least surfing last a little longer...
I know our countries maybe are safer but I know there are more places now on the planet such as Mexico that aren't as safe as they were just a few decades ago. How do you feel about traveling with your family thru the Middle East?
More humans including children are dying more today then ever in history. Diseas ...[text shortened]... are getting harder to control. The life span of humans over all world wide is suffering. Right?
No, I disagree.
It's very reminiscent of a debate going on at the moment in my country and perhaps in yours too, about the safety of children.
When I was growing up, we kids would wander off to the local parks and creeks and muck around without any concern from our parents. Today it's hard to find parents that will let their kids do the sort of thing that was common. I admit to being a bit harder on my kids than my parents were on me.
Why is this?
There's a perception that it's a more dangerous world for them - with kidnappings, murders, sexual depravity, and so on.
But the reality is that our society (I'm talking Australia here) is much safer today than it was 20, 50, 100 years ago. Why do we perceive it to be more dangerous? I'm not sure about this, but I think it's mixed up with media focus on abhorent events amongs other things.
I think the same goes for our world as a whole.
Sure, there are places I wouldn't want to go to, or take my family to - Somalia springs to mind, and Afghanistan - but on the whole, I'm probably more likely to get eaten by a shark while surfing than to be killed in a terrorist attack.
I'm sure you're right about more humans dying now than ever before, but don't forget there are way more humans alive now than ever before.
Some diseases are getting harder to control, but that's balanced by more and more cures for other diseases.
Not sure about life spans - I'm sure you could check the figures somewhere.
My gut tells me that people are probably living longer just about everywhere. But maybe that's just the raving lefty in me coming to the surface ...