We are the only remaining superpower with only the occasional rogue nation, and pesky terrorists, both foreign and home-grown, to worry about from time to time. Serious crime is down across the board. The Internet has brought us closer to being a global community than people thought possible a mere five years ago. We have more sheer information available to us than ever before at speeds faster than ever before. The world is arguably freer than its ever been.
Technology continues to make our lives more comfortable, more productive.
We are living longer and with better health. All in all, it is a very rosy picture. New horrors inflicted by humans upon humans have become a daily occurrence, and we seem to grow less shocked at each new one. When acts of depravity are committed these days, their details are disseminated with lightning speed, and are often followed by acts of even greater atrocity before the ink has dried on reports of the original event. At least that s how I interpret the weary and tense countenances I see everywhere.