Intentionally Vicarious: Having more fun than anyone else you know!

Speaking of unintended consequences... We all need to be aware of the "Benefits Cliff." It just might be the most perverse scenario that creates a really, REALLY massive disincentive to the working poor.

We've all had bad experiences with the nightmare of so-called "Customer Service." Not that I want to play Can You Top This, but I'd be surprised - and have tremendous sympathy with you - if you actually can top my recent interaction with AT&T. The issue I had was double-billing of $829.99 for a new iPhone 16.

Here's an overview of what happened:

• AT&T double-billed me for an iPhone 16

• I invested a total of 10 hours, 53 minutes with a 1 Chat Bot & 21 Human Chat Agents

• The Chat transcript is 34 pages long

• I abandoned an effort to call AT&T Customer Support after being cut off following 32 minutes on hold (Why would I expect the phone company to have a well-functioning phone system???)

• I miraculously found a place online to file a formal, legal complaint with AT&T's Office Of The President (Trust me, you want the additional info I'll provide below...)

DO NOT get swept up into the money-chasing, "Simplify & Polarize" strategy of the politicians and political media. The fact is, 85% of America is in general agreement about what abortion policy should be. That's right, 85% agreement.

Political polarization in America is a MYTH!!! Follow the money and it's easy to see how the media manipulates into believing this baloney.

Living and/or working in an echo chamber is safe and comfortable, but unconscionably lazy and dumb. It is SO, so easy to intentionally - or accidentally - place oneself in an environment that constantly reinforces pre-existing beliefs and opinions, and at the same time prevents consideration of alternative ideas and perspectives.

Listen up to understand just how scary an echo chamber can get...

I debated with myself on the sentence I should use to introduce piece, and I see two choices:

1. The world is going to hell in a handbasket!!!

2. The world is going to hell in a handbasket???

Without a doubt, the United States today is awash in terrible problems. So is the rest of the world. I don't need to list them. Read and/or listen to and/or watch whatever news outlets you prefer, and you'll read and/or hear and/or see a litany of examples. As I reflected on the news I've consumed over the past several years, it became crystal clear which of those two versions was more appropriate. It also became clear that I needed a two-sentence introduction. Here it is:

The world is going to hell in a handbasket??? How could you possibly be so ill-informed?

As I said earlier, yes, the US and the world are awash in terrible problems. I make exactly zero bones about that fact, okay? So what else is new? Look, I've read a lot of history in my 60-plus years, and all of it has been a direct reflection of the news we all read, hear, and see every day.

One group of innocent people rails against the depredations of another group of evil people. One oppressed group attacks another privileged group and takes not only their stuff, but also assumes dominion over their territory. Some poor slob falls victim to a freak accident. Mass numbers of people get infected with and die from some unknown hideous disease. There's a drought or locusts or murder hornets or some other natural phenomenon that kills huge numbers of people. Some [insert your racial, ethnic, or religious descriptor here] individual randomly kills an innocent [insert your different racial, ethnic, or religious descriptor here] kills an innocent bystander.

Hey, and I ought to repeat at least part of that, that whole paragraph. And a group of innocent people rails against the depredations of another group of evil people. One oppressed group attacks another privileged group and takes their stuff and assumes dominion over their territory. Some poor slob falls victim to a freak accident. Mass numbers of people get killed by something. You get the point. Horrible news all the time.

And am I referring to some point of time in the distant past here, or the not-so-distant past, or yesterday? The answer is yes to all of those questions. The sentences apply to the distant past through today, and you know what? It's gonna keep going tomorrow. To ask if the world is awash in problems is asking the wrong question. To ask, "What will I do today to alleviate problem X?" is a vastly better, more useful, more intelligent question.

Fortunately for me, for you, for all of us, lots and lots of people have been asking that question throughout all of human history. We are now living in by far, by far the best times ever, and I will now proceed to provide evidence.

Check out the chart below. It is literally my new absolutely favorite chart. It shows a graph of world population that's living in extreme poverty by year from 1800 to 2015. In 1800, 95%, 95% of the two billion people on the planet lived in abject poverty. That was 1.9 billion-plus people living at a subsistence level. Today, only 9% of the 7.4 billion people on the planet live in abject poverty. That's 700 million people. There are 5.2 billion more people alive today than 200 years ago, and 1.2 billion fewer living in abject poverty. That's astonishingly wonderful news. It's a clear indicator that the world is relentlessly becoming a better place.

Here's the "live" chart which provides even more insight. (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/world-population-in-extreme-poverty-absolute )

Yeah, of course, it's awful that 700 people live at a subsistence level. That's why we need to continue on the trend that began around 1970 when the percent of world population living in abject poverty began to drop and drop precipitously. Still skeptical? All right, stick with me because I'm going to provide you with another 32 indicators that the world is relentlessly becoming a better place. (And you can look at the end of this section to see the actual graphs for every one of these things.)

• Legal slavery. In 1800, 193 of the then existing 194 countries, basically every country in the world, had legal slavery. Today, three. And in 1960, it drops like a rock. That's the whole civil rights movement in the U.S. drove it not only in this country, but got rid of slavery around the whole world.

• Oil spills. In 1979, 636,000 tons of oils got spilled out of tankers. Today, 6,000.

• Solar panels used to cost in 76, $66 per watt. Today, six cents.

• HIV infections in 1996, 549. Today, 241.

• Percent of children dying before their fifth birthday. In 1800, 44% of children died before they turned five. Today, it's 4%.

• Battle deaths. In the mid-1940s, World War II, 201 people per 100,000 died in battle. Today, one per 100,000.

• The death penalty. In 1863, 193 of 194 countries had the death penalty. Today, 89.

• Leaded gasoline. In 1986, 193 of the 194 countries in the world allowed lead in gasoline. Today, three.

• Plane crash deaths per 10 billion passenger miles. In 1930, 2,100. Today, one.

• Child labor, that's kids five to 14 who work full-time under bad conditions. In 1950, 28%, today 10%.

• Deaths from disaster, that's 100,000 deaths per year. In the 1930s, 971 people per year died from a disaster. Today, 72.

• Nuclear arms, 1986 there were 64,000 nuclear warheads. Today, 15,000.

• Smallpox, in 1850 there were 148 of the 194 countries in the world. 148 of them had smallpox cases. Today... Actually back to 1979 through today, zero.

• Smoke particles emitted on a per capita basis. 1970, 38 kilograms. Today, 14.

• Ozone depletion, 1,000 tons of ozone depleting substances used in 1970, 1,663. Today, 22.

• Hunger, share of people undernourished in 1970, 28%. Today, 11%.

• New movies, in 1906 there was one. Today there's over 11,000.

• Protected reserves, protected nature reserves, that's the share of the earth's land surface protected as a national park or some, some such other park. In 1900, 0.03%. Today, almost 15%.

• Women's right to vote, In 1893, one country of 194 total in the world allowed women to vote. One! Today, it's 193.

• New music. In 1860, literally one song. Today, there's over six million, approaching seven million.

• Scholarly science articles published per year. In 1665, there were 119. Today, there's almost three million per year.

• Cereal grain harvest. That's, that's the yield out of, out of crops. In 1961, 1.4 thousand kilograms per acre. Today, 4,000.

• Literacy in 1800 was about 10%. Today, it exceeds 86%.

• Democracy, the share of humanity living in a democratically ruled country with, with human rights and other guarantees. In 1816, 1% of humanity. Today, 56%.

• Child cancer survival. That's the five-year survival of those children diagnosed with cancer before age 20 that did get the best treatment available at the time. In 1975, 58% survival rate. Today, it's 80%.

• Share of girls in primary school, 65% in 1970, 90% today.

• Species monitored so we don't lose them. 1959, there were 34 species on the endangered list. Today, there's almost 88,000.

• Share of people with access to electricity. In 1991, that recently, 1991, 72%. Today, 85%.

• Mobile phones, 1980, zero. Today, 65% of the people in the world have a freaking cellphone.

• Share of people with water from a protected source, good water. 1980, 58% of the people in the world. Today, it's 88%.

• Internet access in 1980, zero. Today, 48%. Half the people in the world have internet access.

• Immunization, that's the share of one-year-olds who got at least one vaccination. In 1980, 22%. Today, 88%.

Do you feel like I'm beating you over the head with good news? Well, good. I sure hope so. For your own sake and sanity, keep this collection of data sets handy. You can copy it from here, or better yet, get yourself a copy of the book Factfulness: 10 Reasons We're Wrong About the World and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. It not only has all the data I just mentioned, it also has an outstanding collection of hints and tips regarding how we perceive the world around us, and how we're wrong all the time, how we always wind up thinking that things are worse than they are.

I just got an invitation to connect on LinkedIn from a guy whose profile headline is, "A preeminent expert in leadership development through inclusion." Not just any expert, a preeminent expert! Are you as impressed by that as me?

Simple, profound and extremely helpful for career planning. Dive deeper and Ikigai becomes a set of guidelines for your whole life.

As we all slowly begin to emerge from our shelter in place lockdown we need to continue to examine and think about what happened, what we did in response to this pandemic and what we should do next.