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Three facts from “Our World in Data” that everyone should know

gatesnotes.com

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Re: Three facts from “Our World in Data” that everyone should know

#31

Post by bungie4 »

First off, I stand up and applaud the Gates Foundation, and everybody, who work to improve the lives of everybody on the planet.

WRT: Extreme Poverty, a few years back, we had a political party who tackled the problem of poverty by redefining the measuring stick of what constitutes poverty. POOF much celebration and self-handshaking when they announced that during their term, their efforts dropped the number of people living in poverty by a very significant amount.

This has left a bad taste in my mouth ever since to never trust claims from politicians.

So I wonder, in the case of this article, how many of those people no longer living at the adjusted poverty line and now only marginally above it and no longer included. They're still their, but buy grace of a single digit, are now considered much better off.

Re: Three facts from “Our World in Data” that everyone should know

#32

Post by grasshopperpurp »

andrepd wrote: post #28

I think this is the most important thing to retain from reading this article: >[...] Both are true at the same time: The world is much better than in the past and it is still awful. >To bring this to mind I need to know both statistics: When someone says we can sit back and relax because the world is in a much better place, I point out that 11 children are still dying every minute. We cannot accept the world as it is…

I agree with you, and that's succinctly said. It reminded me of this article from a couple days ago.

>Trump administration claims only 250,000 Americans live in extreme poverty, despite UN estimates of 18m

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-extreme...

Re: Three facts from “Our World in Data” that everyone should know

#33

Post by maxerickson »

amingilani wrote: post #11
ItsMe000001 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see why you called it myth. Just because it sort of works short term does not tell you anything about long term consequences. Earth has changed drastically with all the humans on it. You need a lot of optimism about solutions for global warming and pollution. The linked short "feel good" video asks an extreme question "Will this lead to the end of our civilization?" (pretend the other side made a ridiculous c…

I think you misunderstand, the video isn't a happy colorful animation about an optimistic conclusion to humanity's problems. It discusses one specific problem : over-population. And distills a ton of data collected over the several decades to offer the conclusion. Historical evidence supports that a decrease in mortality rates is followed by a decrease in birth rate. Here, check out the data for yourself[1] The theor…

One thing I wonder about is how much of a genetic component there is to the number of children people will have in a developed society.

If there is, after several generations, you can expect those genes to be much more prevalent in the society and for population growth to resume.

Re: Three facts from “Our World in Data” that everyone should know

#35

Post by credit_guy »

amingilani wrote: post #3

Relevant Kurzgesagt video on overpopulation: https://youtu.be/QsBT5EQt348 I learnt about the overpopulation myth during my undergrad, but I'm continuously surprised by how many people (including Thanos) didn't know this. Edit: Here's a chart of expected population growths. It's expected to start slowing down[1] [1]: Select WORLD from the menu: https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Graphs/Probabilistic/POP/TOT/

That video is fantastic, thanks for linking to it. Does anyone know how it was produced?

Re: Three facts from “Our World in Data” that everyone should know

#36

Post by [deleted] »

andrepd wrote: post #28

I think this is the most important thing to retain from reading this article: >[...] Both are true at the same time: The world is much better than in the past and it is still awful. >To bring this to mind I need to know both statistics: When someone says we can sit back and relax because the world is in a much better place, I point out that 11 children are still dying every minute. We cannot accept the world as it is…

[deleted]

Re: Three facts from “Our World in Data” that everyone should know

#37

Post by coldtea »

bungie4 wrote: post #31

First off, I stand up and applaud the Gates Foundation, and everybody, who work to improve the lives of everybody on the planet. WRT: Extreme Poverty, a few years back, we had a political party who tackled the problem of poverty by redefining the measuring stick of what constitutes poverty. POOF much celebration and self-handshaking when they announced that during their term, their efforts dropped the number of peopl…

That's a very important thing to keep in mind.

"Facts" and figures quoted by governments, or even by various organisations not only can be twisted seven ways till Sunday to present a nice or gloomy picture with statistics, but even the raw numbers themselves can also be very different than the truth on the ground.]

>So I wonder, in the case of this article, how many of those people no longer living at the adjusted poverty line and now only marginally above it and no longer included.

There are lots of subtleties there as well. A family with very little to no income, but living in a traditional e.g. African or Amazon community where income is not really required (even European rural communities lived perfectly well with making most of their own food and minimal actual "jobs" and money well into the 1950s), could be much better off than a family that now makes $2 a day, but has been driven out of their land and forced to live in piss poor conditions and work their bones off in some slum.

Re: Three facts from “Our World in Data” that everyone should know

#38

Post by [deleted] »

bungie4 wrote: post #31

First off, I stand up and applaud the Gates Foundation, and everybody, who work to improve the lives of everybody on the planet. WRT: Extreme Poverty, a few years back, we had a political party who tackled the problem of poverty by redefining the measuring stick of what constitutes poverty. POOF much celebration and self-handshaking when they announced that during their term, their efforts dropped the number of peopl…

[deleted]

Re: Three facts from “Our World in Data” that everyone should know

#39

Post by AnimalMuppet »

fwdpropaganda wrote: post #20
ItsMe000001 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see why you called it myth. Just because it sort of works short term does not tell you anything about long term consequences. Earth has changed drastically with all the humans on it. You need a lot of optimism about solutions for global warming and pollution. The linked short "feel good" video asks an extreme question "Will this lead to the end of our civilization?" (pretend the other side made a ridiculous c…

> You need a lot of optimism about solutions for global warming and pollution. I disagree. Unless you can show me a first-principle calculation for why a specific number should be "too much", then I don't think it's reasonable to assume that we're either above or below such a number. Don't get me wrong: I agree that such a number must exist. But you seem certain that we're above it, which isn't based on anything as f…

It seems clear that, with the same level of technology, more people put more load on the environment than fewer people do. The question then becomes, are we currently putting "too much" load on the environment? I think that's where the dispute lies.

And since there is no clear definition of "too much", there is no provably correct answer to the question. One person looks around, sees what's happening to the oceans, the carbon dioxide level, and so on, and says "Of course it's too much!". Another looks around, sees things "pretty much the same as before", and says "clearly not too much".

Re: Three facts from “Our World in Data” that everyone should know

#40

Post by jeffreyrogers »

nicolas_t wrote: post #34
wslh wrote: post #27

The world population has almost doubled from 1960 to 2018. I think this makes the #1 fact much stronger.

but the fertility rate has fallen by half which compensates for the doubling of the world population

There are still more kids born now than back then, so the decline in absolute child mortality shows progress.
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