“If anyone thinks they’d rather be in a different part of history, they’re probably not a very good student of history. Life sucked in the old days. People knew very little, and you were likely to die at a young age of some horrible disease. You’d probably have no teeth by now. It would be particularly awful if you were a woman.” – Elon Musk

I recently wrote an in-depth five part series of articles: 50 Harsh Facts of Life in which I spoke about the ugly side of life: mass shootings and terrorism, racism and rape, death, depression, suicide etc.

I didn’t do this to be negative, or to make anyone feel like crap, but to give you the reader a reality check and to tell you some hard truths about life.

I don’t believe in being positive or negative, optimistic or pessimistic.

Instead, I believe in seeing things the way they are and dealing with them the way they are.

That means we shouldn’t deny the negative side of life, and we shouldn’t deny the positive side of life either.

The truth is that overall, things have never been better, and in this article I intend to prove to you that we are living in the greatest time in all of human history…

21. Longest life expectancy in history

Just like Stan Lee (recently past at 95 years old) millions of people around the world are now living well over the age of 90 and 100+

In fact, there are currently more than 500, 000 people around the world over the age of 100, and the UN predicts that figure to skyrocket to almost 4 Million people by 2050.

In Japan alone there are over 2 Million people over the age of 90.

The average life expectancy worldwide is currently 71.5 years (68 years and 4 months for men, and 72 years and 8 months for women) and it’s getting longer every year, and most people will live much longer than that. It all depends on your diet, genetics, how well you look after yourself, and where you live.

Global life expectancy has shot up dramatically in the last 100 years, due to fewer people dying younger due to disease and war, and infant mortality has dropping off.

Global life expectancy:

1900: 31 years

1950: 48 years

2017: 71.5 years

Note: The average life expectancy is actually over 75 in over 100 countries, and over 80 in over 40 countries, including almost every country in the western world.

20. Most peaceful time in history

“Believe it or not, the world of the past was much worse. Violence has been in decline for thousands of years, and today we may be living in the most peaceable era in the existence of our species.” – Steven Pinker

There will always be the threat of conflict and war, but there has never been a more peaceful time on earth, than there is now.

There are less wars, and less people dying in them.

Ray Kurzweil says it best:

“People think the world is getting worse. What’s actually happening is our information about what’s wrong in the world is getting better. A century ago, there would be a battle that wiped out the next village, you’d never even hear about it. Now there’s an incident halfway around the globe and we not only hear about it, we experience it. It’s actually a good thing, though. I point out to people, this is the most peaceful time in human history.” – Ray Kurzweil

So does Steven Pinker:

“The worldwide rate of death from interstate and civil war combined has juddered downward…from almost 300 per 100,000 world population during World War II, to almost 30 during the Korean War, to the low teens during the era of the Vietnam War, to single digits in the 1970s and 1980s, to less than 1 in the twenty-ﬁrst century.” – Steven Pinker

19. Lowest crime rate in history

Despite all the news about mass shootings, murder, rape, violent crime etc. crime rates worldwide are currently at their lowest rate in history and they’re still dropping.

Since 1993, gun murders in America have dropped by 49 percent, and between 1993 and 2012, murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault decreased by 48 percent in the US.

America’s murder rate is decreasing:

20,919 murders per year in the 1990’s

16,211 murders per year in the 2000’s

13, 000 murders per year now in the 2010’s

It’s still too high, but it’s definitely heading in the right direction.

18. Less racism, sexism, homophobia etc.

Racism, sexism, homophobia etc. is definitely becoming less common, and as the world wakes up and people become more educated and less ignorant, fewer people are judging others on things like the color of their skin, gender, height, or sexuality.

17. Sports have never been better

Athletes in every sport have never been more skilled or talented than they are now.

Olympic and World records are constantly being broken, and it’s just about every few years we’re seeing a new GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) in every different sport.

Sports science, training methods, diet and nutrition – everything keeps improving and getting better.

We’re now seeing the rise of super athletes like Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, Jon Jones, Lebron James and Usain Bolt in every sport on the planet.

16. Shopping has never been better

Shopping has never been better, cheaper, easier, faster, or more convenient than it is now.

We’ve never had a bigger or better selection of everything at cheaper prices.

Online shopping has given us instant access to a worldwide market of the latest and greatest of everything, at cheaper prices than we’ve ever seen before.

You can buy anything you want online:

Alcohol/Drugs

Books/Comics/Magazines

Concert/Movie/Theater tickets

Clothing

Electronics

Flights/Hotels

Groceries

Lunch/Dinner

Phones

TV’s

Video games

You don’t even need to leave the house to go shopping anymore.

You can do your shopping whilst drinking coffee, lying in bed, sitting on the toilet, talking to a friend, watching a movie etc.

15. Technology has never been better

Imagine living in a time before airplanes, cars, computers, electricity, fridges, internet, phones, TV, toilets etc.

No thanks.

But that’s the way it was for 99.99% of human history.

Thankfully we’re living in the most technologically advanced time in all of human history, and that means we have access to the latest technologies that make our lives way more fun:

Airplanes

Cars

Computers

Drones

Google glass

Internet

Kindle

Robotic vacuum cleaners

Smart body analyzers (measuring BMI, body composition, fat percentage, heart rate etc.)

Smartphones

Smart speakers

Smartwatches

Social media

Thermostats

4K Ultra HD TV’s

Video cameras

Video games

AI, self-driving cars, virtual reality etc. it’s all just around the corner…

14. Healthcare has never been better

If you want access to the latest advancements in healthcare and medicine, there is no better time to be living in history than right now in the 21st century.

We have the latest antibiotics, medicines, vaccines, we’ve mapped the human genome, & we’re better at diagnosing, preventing, treating, and curing disease than ever before.

All of the following diseases have been cured too:

Chicken Pox

Diphtheria

Invasive H. flu

Malaria

Measles

Pneumococcal Disease

Polio

Rabies

SARS

Smallpox

Tetanus

Tuberculosis

Typhoid Fever

Whooping cough

Yellow Fever

People used to die from these diseases. Now they just get a quick and inexpensive shot to prevent them.

Fewer people are dying from heart disease and stroke, and more people are surviving cancer.

Hopefully we’ll soon find a cure for AIDS, cancer, diabetes, parkinson’s etc.

13. Networking has never been easier

It’s never been easier to network, connect, or make contact with anyone in the world.

Gone are the days of having to slowly build your network up one person at a time, by having to go to lots of boring after work networking events.

Now thanks to Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites, it only takes a few seconds to connect with anyone anywhere in the world, meaning you can grow your network 10, 000X faster and easier than ever before.

Each online connection can then easily lead to a face to face meeting, or even better, to a new friendship or business relationship.

It’s hard to imagine a world without Facebook, yet social media only really started to become a thing about 10 years ago, around 2007.

12. Lots of things are getting cheaper

Despite inflation, lots of things are getting cheaper every year:

Amazon Kindle

Cars

Clothing

Electric cars

Flights

Internet

Laptops and tablets

Music

Phone plans

Photography

Smartphones

Solar panels

TV’s

Toys

11. We have more options than ever before

Never before in all of history have we had more options than we do now:

Business options

Career options

Entertainment options

Food options

Investment options

Movie/Music/TV options

Payment options

Shopping options

Travel options

We have an abundance of options. We are blessed with choice.

10. It’s never been easier to see the world

Traveling the world has seriously never been easier than it is now.

For our ancestors it definitely wasn’t easy to travel to another city, and certainly not to another country.

It took months to travel from Asia to Europe, and you had to travel by boat.

Now you can just jump on a plane and be anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours.

You can have breakfast in Jerusalem, lunch in Rome, and dinner in New York City.

9. It’s never been easier to start a business

Thanks to the internet it’s never been cheaper, easier, or quicker to start a business than it is now.

You don’t need a $100, 000 + to start a business like in the old days, all you need is about $100 to start your own website to start selling and promoting your own products online (or you can sell other people’s products through affiliate marketing).

You don’t need a large marketing budget either, you can market and promote your products for free to a worldwide audience using online social media channels: Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter, Yelp, YouTube etc.

You don’t even need to quit your job, you can start your own business part time after hours.

8. It’s never been easier to get rich

Never in all of human history has it ever been easier to make money or to get rich.

As many businesses exist: There are that many ways to become a millionaire.

In other words, there are literally millions of ways to become a millionaire and become financially free, many of which never existed before.

You can start a traditional business, sell products online, start your own store on eBay, start your own YouTube channel like YouTube stars Lilly Singh and PewDiePie who both make over $7 Million USD per year, or do a zillion other things.

This abundance of options probably explains why there have never been more millionaires or billionaires than there are now.

Worldwide there are 36 Million Millionaires and 2, 500 Billionaires, and global GDP is $80+ Trillion – the highest it’s ever been.

7. Everything is faster than ever before

From horseback to cars to planes, snail mail to email to text and instant messaging, everything is getting FASTER and FASTER.

Computers are getting faster.

Internet is getting faster.

Transport is getting faster.

Everything is getting faster.

You can jump on a plane and be anywhere in the world within 24 hours.

You can call anyone in the world and speak to them instantly.

Entertainment, news, sport, weather etc. is broadcast live around the world in real-time as it happens.

Now we just need teleportation machines…

6. Everything is more convenient

Yep, lots of things still annoy us and are way harder than they need to be, but overall things have never been easier or more convenient than they are right now.

You can buy anything you like without needing to leave your home

You can get lunch, dinner, or groceries delivered right to your front door

You have infinite entertainment and information right there on your phone 24/7

You can get an Uber to pick you up right from your door and take you anywhere you want to go

PS: I love Uber so much I hope they put Taxi drivers (easily one of the most dishonest and dodgy professions in the world) out of business ASAP.

5. Food has never been more abundant

Yep, lots of people are getting fat, but that’s a first world problem because there’s so much damn good food around (and obviously people aren’t exercising as much as they should).

It doesn’t matter what kind of food you like: Chinese, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Thai etc. you can get it – almost anywhere.

The world currently produces more than 1 ½ times enough food to feed everyone on the planet. That’s enough to feed 10 billion people.

4. Free entertainment

YouTube has such an insane amount of good content that it’s ridiculous: Comedies, documentaries, interviews, movies, music, podcasts, TV shows etc.

Free entertainment is always good, especially when you get infinite variety.

YouTube currently has more than 1 Billion videos up, and if that’s not enough, another 400 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

Even if nothing else got added ever, it would take you more than 60, 000 years just to watch what’s currently there.

…And that’s just YouTube, let alone the rest of the internet…

3. Free education

Education used to be limited to the rich and wealthy, but not anymore…

Thanks to the internet you now have all the world’s greatest libraries, philosophers, scientists, and teachers: Socrates, Aristotle, Da Vinci, Einstein, Tesla, Buddha, Jesus, Krishna etc. available to you 24/7 anytime you like, anywhere you like, and it’s all free.

In fact, you now have access to more information than anyone else in history, on any subject imaginable: computer programming, maths, science, religion, spirituality, other languages, philosophy, psychology, cooking, mediation, yoga etc.

Audiobooks, blogs, books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, interviews, podcasts, seminars etc. it’s all available to you 24/7 anytime you like, anywhere you like.

No more needing to go to the library, you can simply Google the answer to any question, or watch tens of thousands of hours of free educational videos on YouTube.

2. Free everything

Speaking of free, the internet has made lots of things free:

Books

Cloud storage

College courses from Universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Oxford, MIT

Email

Entertainment

Games

Instant messaging

Maps

Movies

Music

News

Phone calls (even international)

Porn (everyone’s favorite thing)

Sport

TV

Video games

1. Access to past resources

One of the greatest things about life today is that even if you prefer the music/movies/TV etc. from a bygone era such as the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s etc. it’s not like these things have disappeared and gone away.

Living today you get the best of both worlds: You can still read/watch/listen to all of your old favorite movies and music from the past, plus you get to enjoy today’s modern technologies: internet, Google, YouTube, blogs, podcasts, iPhones, Wikipedia etc.

Another great thing about life today is that you can learn the greatest lessons from the wisest people who’ve ever lived: Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tzu, Socrates, Aristotle, Einstein etc. without needing to live in a world with bad food, bad hygiene, bad toilet habits, no electricity, no computers, no internet, no TV etc.

But whether it’s the best time or the worst time…

It’s important to realize however, that even though we’re living in the greatest time in all of human history, with all of the opportunities and resources in the world, it’s not time, opportunities or resources that make you successful, it’s you.

You can have all the opportunities and resources available to you in the world, but what good is it if you won’t take advantage of them?

It’s a good idea to remember that some of the most successful companies in history were started during depressions and recessions, proving that hard work and dedication pays off no matter what time you’re living in.

Businesses that were started during a depression or recession:

General Electric 1890

IBM 1896

General Motors 1908

Xerox 1906

Disney 1923

Motorola 1928

Revlon 1932

Hewlett-Packard 1939

Burger King 1953

Sports Illustrated 1954

Microsoft 1975

CNN 1980

MTV 1981

Wikipedia 2001

Groupon 2008

In fact, more than half of America’s top fortune 500 companies were started during a depression or recession.

So whether we’ve living in the best of times or the worst of times, you still have to work hard and smart, take advantage of the opportunities and resources that are available to you, and do everything you can, from where you are, with what you’ve got.

Remember: Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time you’ve got… so use it wisely.

Recap

As I said, this is without a doubt the greatest time in all of human history to be alive.

Let’s do a quick recap of the reasons why:

21. Longest life expectancy in history

20. Most peaceful time in history

19. Lowest crime rate in history

18. Less racism, sexism, homophobia etc.

17. Sports have never been better

16. Shopping has never been better

15. Technology has never been better

14. Healthcare has never been better

13. Networking has never been easier

12. Lots of things are getting cheaper

11. We have more options than ever before

10. It’s never been easier to see the world

9. It’s never been easier to start a business

8. It’s never been easier to get rich

7. Everything is faster than ever

6. Everything is more convenient

5. Food has never been better or more abundant

4. Free entertainment

3. Free education

2. Free everything

1. Access to past resources

Summary

This is easily the greatest time in all of human history to be alive.

Education, entertainment, healthcare, information, medicine, science, sports, technology etc. is the best it’s ever been and it’s only going to get better.

People are healthier, richer, smarter, more accepting and tolerant, less racist, less sexist, less prejudice, less homophobic etc. than they’ve ever been before.

We’ve never had more information, knowledge, opportunity, possibilities, resources, or wealth than we do now.

Some people love to fantasize about the past, the ‘good old days’, but who would want to go back to living in a time without airplanes, cars, electricity, medicine, showers, toilets, computers, internet, social media, Google, YouTube etc.?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article, and it’s given you a fresh appreciation for the amazing times we’re living in.

I’d like to close with these words from Obama:

“We are fortunate to be living in the most peaceful, most prosperous, most progressive era in human history. That may surprise young people who are watching TV or looking at your phones and it seems like only bad news comes through every day. But consider that it’s been decades since the last war between major powers. More people live in democracies. We’re wealthier and healthier and better educated, with a global economy that has lifted up more than a billion people from extreme poverty, and created new middle classes from the Americas to Africa to Asia. Think about the health of the average person in the world – tens of millions of lives that we now save from disease and infant mortality, and people now living longer lives. If you had to choose a moment in time to be born, any time in human history, and you didn’t know ahead of time what nationality you were or what gender or what your economic status might be, you’d choose today.” – Barack Obama, 44th US President

I agree 100%

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