The Meaning of Life 77
water. But remember that Elon is a big fan of facts and they
say that the world is becoming a better and better place to
live in. We are just not seeing it. “If anyone thinks they’d
rather be in a different part of history, they’re probably not
a very good student of history,” Elon said. “Life sucked in
the old days. People knew very little, and you were likely to
die at a young age of some horrible disease. You’d probably
have no teeth by now.”^117
In an interview, Elon referred to the articleAHistoryof
Violenceby Steven Pinker. The article reveals that the world
has become a better place to live in. According to Pinker’s
research, the murder rate has declined from 24 homicides
per 100 000 Englishmen in the 14th century to 0.6 by the
early 1960s. The number of battle deaths in interstate wars
has declined from more than 65 000 per year in the 1950s
to less than 2 000 per year.^303
Hans Rosling, who is a Swedish medical doctor and
public speaker, has shown that we have preconceived con-
ceptions about the global health. In a survey, he asked
several questions about our world’s health. One of the
questions was, “What do you think is the life expectancy in
the world as a whole today?” 24 percent answered 50 years,
54 percent answered 60 years, and 22 percent answered 70
years. What do you think? The correct answer is 70 years.
Another question was, “What percentage of adults in the
world today can read and write?” The correct answer is
80 percent, but only 22 percent of the polled chose that
answer.^444
The reason why we are more negative to the world than