Violence is trending downward, in the US and worldwide.<p>Racism, sexism and homophobia are also trending downward, at least in the US (we just barely legalized same-sex marriage, a significant step forward).<p>Concerns about these things have spiked the last few years, but that doesn&#x27;t mean that these problems have spiked.<p>And having products that solve my problems isn&#x27;t just materialism, it does matter - It matters that I have products that save me time and let me focus on more important things.  It matters that I have better products. It matters that my child is safer than 40 years ago from better playgrounds.  It matters that my son&#x27;s mom has an app that can send me her location with a tap of a button when she&#x27;s having a seizure.  It matters that I can take cheap online courses to improve my career.  It even matters that I have more music in my car, because that makes me happier.<p>Edit: Adding this because it&#x27;s awesome: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gapminder.org&#x2F;world&#x2F;#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=5.59290322580644;ti=2013$zpv;v=0$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj1jiMAkmq1iMg;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj2tPLxKvvnNPA;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=8.21;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0XOoBL_n5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=log;dataMin=194;dataMax=96846$map_y;scale=lin;dataMin=23;dataMax=86$map_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=;example=75" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gapminder.org&#x2F;world&#x2F;#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly...</a>