Is the world better off than before?Ìı 
The only way we can measure any success is to recall the past. As we look back today, we see tremendous changes in the past century, especially in the last few decades. Technology has advanced at a pace none of us could have imagined, bringing with it truly useful revolutions but also many threats and challenges. We have made progress in reducing poverty, but the goal of eliminating it remains an all-too-distant one. We are finally acknowledging the destruction of our environment and the urgency with which we must do something about it, yet we are unable to agree on a way forward. Despite the knowledge and the new tools at our hands, I feel that we humans are still largely missing the point, dampening the concept of hope we depend on.
While poverty statistically affects a smaller proportion of humans than it did in the past, it remains omnipresent in an age in which we possess all the riches necessary for every human being to lead a secure and comfortable life.
The poor are feeling this all the more starkly today, as information is easily accessible, showing them a world of plenty that does not care enough about those who can barely make it to the next meal, let alone the next day. The true expert on poverty is the poor person. In Arabic, we have the saying, “He who receives the lashes is not the same as he who counts them.†The problem is one of empathy and fairness. Most of humanity continues as if everything were normal, but so many are unable to meet the most basic needs of life, like food and shelter.
We are all — not just the poor — more educated and more adept at finding information today. But the developed world is seeing unprecedented disturbances to its economic and political systems. There are ever more people struggling in the West, whether to make ends meet, to have their voice heard, or to envision a future for their children. We are finally recognizing the inequality that is built into our capitalist system and we are realizing that democratic institutions and processes do not appear to be reactive enough to respond to the great challenges of our day. As the pace of technological development accelerates, our ability to meet imminent challenges such as those posed by environmental degradation seems to have lost steam.
We must start thinking about and better defining the moment we are living in, bringing forth a collective power that recognizes we are heading in the wrong direction on so many issues.
As people lose confidence in politicians and governments, the former are redoubling their efforts to sell their dishonest agendas by using consultants to refine their images, their talking points and their ways of addressing the public. The dishonesty still seeps through, of course, but ultimately the public falls back to supporting the dishonest politician who at least is opposed to the enemy they have devised.
Nobody in the US is happy with the rematch between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump that is shaping up for the next presidential election, but each candidate will retain the full support of all those who hate the other candidate more.
Advertising is no longer just a tool to spread a message; it has become the message itself. Nobody knows where we are really going anymore. This is just an inkling of what is to come, as compromise is no longer something we must accept but rather a temporary hiccup that must be challenged until it falls.
After the devastating wars and instability of the first half of the 20th century, we all agreed that we must have institutions that help us build a more promising future for humanity, that help cool passions and prevent war through discussion and negotiation. Unfortunately, that hope has already been lost and we are now witnessing a war in Europe that has killed hundreds of thousands and threatens to turn into the Third World War, even potentially a nuclear Armageddon. Does it seem reasonable to continue to bluff and try to scare the other side when so much is at stake? How can all our knowledge and technology have led us here? All we have to show for it seems to be ever more distrust, hatred and dismissiveness.
We must start thinking about and better defining the moment we are living in, bringing forth a collective power that recognizes we are heading in the wrong direction on so many issues. How can we show such disregard for our environment, for those less fortunate than us, and for those suffering through a war that could yet engulf us all? Is there some kind of technology that can truly help us build a better world and put an end to these constant insults we throw at our planet and our fellow human beings? We must pause and redirect our efforts to shaping a world that is better than what came before, for today, we are failing.
• Hassan bin Youssef Yassin worked with Saudi petroleum ministers Abdullah Tariki and Ahmed Zaki Yamani from 1959 to 1967. He led the Saudi Information Ofï¬ce in Washington, D.C. from 1972 to 1981, and served with the Arab League observer delegation to the UN from 1981 to 1983.
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