What I'm Thankful For: The Science and Technology Edition

Ice mountains, nitrogen glaciers, and enigmatic flows on Pluto--just one small sample of the inspirational images returned by the New Horizons probe this past year. (Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute) It can feel inappropriate celebrating the exploration of the universe while the media are saturated with grim stories about warfare, terrorism, and other forms of human suffering. The issue boils down to matters of sensitivity and propriety: How can you talk about something so theoretical and remote when there are so many problems all around us? I wrote a column on this theme last year, and it feels especially timely right now as I (like so many other Americans) am stepping back to think about the things I'm thankful for. What really struck me from that perspective was the sense of progress: The old-fashioned sense of forward motion through history, from less civilized to more, toward a better and more fulfilling lifestyle for all of humanity. It is easy to lose sight of the pattern while being barraged by news stories that give the impression we are living in the worst time ever--but by most measures, we are living in the best time ever. I'm not talking just about scientific exploration (in which 2015 witnessed historic explorations the small worlds Pluto and Ceres), but also about the overall quality of human life. Both are getting better and better, and the reasons why are intertwined. You may be skeptical, so let's look at some hard statistics. First, the overall state of conflict. Just to be clear, every death is loss, and every battle or attack is horrific. But the long-term trend is cause for optimism. The data here are compiled by Max Roser; follow this link for information about the sources.