Bill Gates says 'the world is actually getting better'

The world may seem like a pretty bad place, but according to Bill Wales, it's getting better and better. Former Microsoft CEO and iconic billionaire signs Time's latest editorial and shows readers how the world is heading to become a better place for all of us.

Much of the blame for this 'pessimistic' feeling we live in is in the media

"Reading today's news isn't exactly optimistic. Hurricanes in the Americas. Horrible mass shootings. Global tensions over nuclear weapons, the crisis in Myanmar, bloody civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Your heart breaks for every person who is hit by these tragedies. Even for those of us lucky not to be directly affected, it may seem that the world is falling apart. " This is how Bill Gates opens his text.

"These events - horrible as they may be - happened in the context of a larger and positive trend. Overall, the world is getting better, " he said. Among the good things, Gates points out that the child mortality rate has halved since the 1990s; the rate of people living in extreme poverty has risen from a third of the world's population in the 1990s to about one tenth today; substantially increased the number of children entering school (over 90%); the laws that protect homosexuals today are in vogue in 100 countries; and the number of women being elected to public office is growing.

• Read the full editorial here

This is nothing new, and Bill Gates made it a point to remember: A good deal of the blame for this "pessimistic" feeling we live in is in the media. That's because people read and consume more negative news. Gates comments that this even helps in the birth of media outlets that focus only on bad news.

Men can take a break and let women clean up the mess that has been made.

In addition to the editorial itself, Gates invited some friends to also give their opinion on Time. One of them - U2 frontman Bono Vox - commented that "men can take a break and let women - the Merkels and Malalas - clean up the mess that has been made and the men are still making it."

"To some extent, it's good that the bad news catches the eye. If you want to improve the world, you need something that annoys you. But it must be balanced by good things. When you see good things happening, you can channel your energy to drive even more progress, "concludes Bill Gates.

Bill Gates says 'the world is actually getting better' via TecMundo