The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better
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2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
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HN comment orderThe book [factfulness](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34890015-factfulness) is precisely about this. They present how the world is improving in an irrefutable way but media and politicians would only focus on the negative. The authors are Swedish, so they talk first hand about Sweden, and their experiences how drastically Sweden changed in the last 2 generations is amazing
If you enjoyed this post, I highly recommend reading Factfulness by Hans Rosling. He spent his later years trying to educate the public on the realities of the world. This book contains a series of tips on how to understand facts. His TED talks are masterpieces as well.
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 582
- Total comments
- 456
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-11-30 | The world is much better; the world is awful; the world can be much better | Reedx | 1 | 0 |
| 2022-07-20 | The world is awful, the world is much better, the world can be much betterFirst breakout | sebg | 162 | 121 |
| 2024-02-06 | The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much betterBest thread · Latest 20+ point return | colonCapitalDee | 418 | 335 |
| 2025-07-21 | The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better | pelario | 1 | 0 |