Greetings from the LHH! I’m late getting this out because it’s been a crazy few days, but this is RWL #400! I’m sorry I don’t have something profound to say about the newsletter. I guess I’ll save it for #500. I can tell you I had a chance to host one of my best friends from high school (36 years ago!) for dinner and it was great to sit at the table with him and TLW like we all did back then, often at my parent’s house. It felt like I was occupying to timelines at once, but it was really lovely.
Although I don’t have something profound to tell you about writing 400 newsletters, I did stumble across some profound things about poverty, so that is the theme for this week. The world is a much better place than it was 50, 100, or 200 years ago. It’s not perfect, but it’s so much better. Take for example the share of the world population living in extreme poverty. In 1820, that was almost everyone. By 1970, it was about 60% of the population. Today it is about 8%. Why don’t people know this? Why aren’t we celebrating it? I think the answer is people who genuinely care about the remaining 8% think we will stop acting if we think we are making too much progress. I would argue the opposite is true - too much negativity, and not celebrating the amazing progress induces a sense of apathy and creates learned helplessness. The link to the above graph and more is in the article for Read below.
On to the links! As usual, willing good for all of you!
Read
What: Our World in Data, The short history of global living conditions and why it matters that we know it
https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions
What: This article is the source of the image above. There are many other interesting graphs, such as literacy rates, that show the world is getting better.
Let’s celebrate the fact that the world is getting better and realize we can make a difference. The glass is more than half full and it can get more full.
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Watch
What: Paul Niehaus | TEDxBoston, What would it take to end extreme poverty? (8 min)
Why: Niehaus is a co-founder of Give Directly, a charity that encourages people to give money directly to poor people to help end extreme poverty. He estimates the amount that needs to be given to raise the remaining people out of poverty is about $100B - less than we spend on pets in the US. It’s an interesting argument.
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Listen
What: Uncommon Knowledge, Doing “The Best Things First,” with Bjorn Lomborg (43 min)
Why: I enjoyed this pod a lot. Lomborg has written a proposal to radically improve the well-being of the world’s poorest people with a (relatively speaking) miniscule annual investment. There are fewer desperately poor people today than there were at any time in human history (as a percentage of the world population), but even so, too many people are suffering. Lomborg has ideas for investment that could help the remaining poor - a great way to keep filling the glass.