Keller @ Large: A Look At The Bright Side Of Life
BOSTON (CBS) - As you regular readers have likely guessed by now, I am a complainer. Hopefully, about things that deserve complaining about, but I admit it, I don't like to keep my complaints bottled up, and am fortunate enough to be paid to share them.
And these days, there's plenty to complain about.
Winter. Winter driving. Winter commuting on the T. Come to think of it, commuting on the T in all seasons.
Politics and politicians. Football injuries.
And by the way, where is my daily Globe?
But now Prof. Steven Pinker of Harvard University has come along and ruined our fun with an uplifting article about something I know many of us were buzzing about in the line to get coffee this morning - scientific advances in the quantitative analysis of human progress.
English translation: hey look, the glass is half-full, and getting fuller!
Writes the professor:
"People are living longer and healthier lives…. A dozen infectious and parasitic diseases are extinct or moribund. Vastly more children are going to school and learning to read. Extreme poverty has fallen worldwide from 85 to 10 percent. Women are better educated, marrying later, earning more, and in more positions of power and influence. Racial prejudice and hate crimes have decreased since data were first recorded. The world is even getting smarter: In every country, IQ has been increasing by three points a decade."
Set against all that, our complaints almost seem petty, don't they?
No, I'm not renouncing my Bostonian-ship.
I said "almost."
Listen to Jon's commentary:
