Is human life getting better; is now the best time to be alive?

Axis: much better and improving ... not better / getting worse

John

date	change	position	video
2011-02-04	new	John would live in the present over any other period of history, asking why anyone would want another.	QUESTION FRIDAY: Spelling is Hard Edition 00:01:15
2011-03-18	new	John quips that being middle class in the 21st century beats being incredibly rich in the 15th, since people very rarely die of leg boils now.	TERRIBLE 00:00:39
2013-12-31	restate	John argues, from a list of welfare statistics, that human life is getting better: the progress is tenuous and partly unsustainable, but real and worth celebrating.	GOOD NEWS: 14 Reasons 2014 May Be the Best Year Ever 00:03:24

date	change	position	video
2010-09-18	new	Hank holds that the world is getting better and that people feel discouraged only because they hear the bad news and never the good.	Positive Prank Calls!! 00:03:20
2011-10-27	new	Hank says that, with falling birth, disease and poverty rates and rising education, humanity is doing surprisingly well compared with expectations 40 or 50 years ago.	7,000,000,000 People 00:02:11
2013-05-31	new	Hank: a graph of health and wealth from 1900 to 2011 shows every country better off; humans constantly solve huge problems but never notice.	Optimism is Not Insane 00:01:51