I think it's improving in many (most?) ways, but I still feel we're headed down a dangerous path. I read /r/futurology on occasion and I'm often skeptical of the technological and social progress that many posters there seem to regard as inevitable.

I think it's important to recognize, specifically in the west, just how unprecedented most of our lives are, and how utterly different they are from people even 40 years ago. To have such an abundance of food so easily accessible. To be so free from daily threats of war or violence. To live in a time where medicine can allow us to live longer than ever. To be able to communicate on the internet and access virtually anything. And in line with all this, to live in a society that is primarily predicated on buying and doing things that make us feel good. We have transcended mere survival. We often take all that for granted. You see it everywhere where people romanticize a past that never existed and harp on and on about how awful things are these days, despite the objective fact that we do live in a time of unprecedented personal safety and comfort.

And I don't think many people, myself included, can truly comprehend what it's like to be impoverished in central Africa. Or homeless and living in an abandoned soviet housing block in Russia. Or living in an Indian slum. We can try to walk a mile, but we've never worn those shoes (most of us). We tend to avoid thinking about the fact that billions of people live these lives of hardship. But when I said things were improving, in many ways they are improving for these people as well. To the extent standards of living and opportunity in the West have somewhat plateaued from the rapid growth in the latter half of the 20th century, the developing world has picked up the slack. The gap is shrinking.

But we're talking billions of people, again. Consider the resources that are required for modern living, America style. I'm not confident all of planet Earth can rise to this level. Consider problems of global warming, over fishing the oceans, and other threats to they very eco systems that support life at all. Consider the organizational challenges of collective entities, whether they be states or multi-national corporations, and how efficiency begins to breakdown and change becomes harder and harder the bigger they become. Realize how complex are the global supply chains necessary to support our lives, and how easily one major failure could cascade into all areas of life. Consider that we are slowly evolving animals living in a world of rapid growth and change.

There are going to be significant growing pains as the developing world begins to achieve parity, both environmental and social. These may stall or even setback our own progress. And it could all, easily, come crashing down.