[Lexington]

This is intentionally vague, you can use whatever metric or value standpoint you like - presumably you have an idea of what good and bad is and what better and worse is. That's kind of the point, really, to gauge pessimism and optimism as political viewpoints. You can think of it as the trajectory over the next ten years or the next generation. Are things getting better over that period of time?

The "other" option exists if...you have a soapbox about tearing a simple question apart on minutiae - or an uncommonly brilliant viewpoint

[Noelnada]

At the level of human species odds of survival, it's getting worse.

Otherwise, neither better or worse, just changing, as it always been.

So, i voted worse.

[Kaiserschmarrn]

Better.

[ralfy]

It's obviously getting worse given a global financial crisis, peak oil and the threat of a resource crunch, and environmental damage coupled with global warming.

[Far-Right Sage]

Worse without question with each passing year, but nature dictates it must eventually bottom out and reach a turning point. Things will get much worse before any real improvements are seen, unfortunately. History tends to be cyclic rather than linear, which is understood in the Dharmic lands of the east where time and history have traditionally been viewed in such a sense since the Vedic period (and who knows ultimately what came before?), as opposed to the Abrahamic and increasingly myopic Western world.

[Rei Murasame]

Worse. Far-Right Sage has it right, a lot of really terrible things are going to happen before it gets better.

[Rugoz]

Extreme poverty as a proportion of world population:



On the other hand we have environmental degradation, but I think humanity will find a solution to that.

So better.

[DudeWhoGetsIt]

worse

no progress on environment, pollution, GCC, collapsing ecosystems
food, water, energy shortages imminent
global economic callamity bubbling beneath surface
wealth/income inequality increasing - domestic instability widespread
terrorism proliferating across nations, demographic groups
WMD disseminating, proliferating
cancer, autism, suicide rates skyrocketing

USA world leadership declining, economy stagnating, domestic politics bifricating, ethnic conflicts intensifying, middle class dissolving, general public dumbed down, tuned out, detatched, isolated, immoral, jingoistic, unhealthy...

[Rainbow Crow]

Depends how much money you have.

[roxunreal]

Better, almost immeasurably better than 80 or 100 or 200+ years ago, but the progress is slow and the world is still nowhere near the place we could make it be if most of it wasn't led by egomaniacs, lunatics, extremists and/or money worshipers.

[Zionist Nationalist]

Better since the soviet union dosent exist anymore.

[feihua]

Better, undeniably better.

No matter how bad the current information is on a day by day basis, it is all a case of reporting. Things were much worse in the 60s worldwide. Things were hell a hundred years ago.

What makes it seem worse is the interaction between nations on an immediate level. Yet when one considers labor, youth exploitation, women's rights, division of the races and transparency as just five starters, things are much better than before. Attitudes are INCREDIBLY more civilized.

Someone point out a decade that is better than the current one. I'll be fair.

[Thunderhawk]

It is changing, as it always does. For those unable to adapt or survive change, change is worse. For the rest, it is getting better.

[roxunreal]

Better, undeniably better.

No matter how bad the current information is on a day by day basis, it is all a case of reporting. Things were much worse in the 60s worldwide. Things were hell a hundred years ago.

What makes it seem worse is the interaction between nations on an immediate level. Yet when one considers labor, youth exploitation, women's rights, division of the races and transparency as just five starters, things are much better than before. Attitudes are INCREDIBLY more civilized.

Someone point out a decade that is better than the current one. I'll be fair.

Pretty well put

As was mentioned before the only part that got worse is impact on environment and things like cancer, allergies or heart disease. The first can be mended or we can adapt to the damage which has been done, while the second while negative is still far less bad than the overall health/medicine situation 100 years ago so we're still in the plus from the health side of things.

[mikema63]

Better, I'd go a little insane if I didn't choose to believe it was getting better.

[jessupjonesjnr87]

A lot worse and fast.

[Donna]

History is merely resuming its old ways of painful change and transition. As Westerners, a lot of us have been spoiled by Keynes.

[Fasces]

Materially, better. Spiritually, worse.

[Kman]

In the short and medium term (5-10 year out) things will get a lot worse in the western world, in the long term however I am optimistic though, the libertarians are crushing the socialists on the internet, we will get a nice rebound and save the western world temporarily from disaster.

[Donna]

Materially, better. Spiritually, worse.

I disagree. There is a New Age renaissance occurring. Just because people abhor religion does not mean that they are not spiritual.