[Isamu]

> NOTE: This is not to say that there aren't major issues we still face, like climate crisis, religious radicalism, terrorism, and so on.

The author felt compelled to include this disclaimer because people are afraid that by pointing out the good trends, that we are taking our eye off the ball in eradicating problems. As if by pointing out any promising trends in poverty, that this is equivalent to saying that we should stop trying to eradicate poverty. As if we declared mission accomplished!

I think this explains the aversion to good-news reporting, not that we over-emphasize the negative because of evolutionary bias. We always feel we need to add a disclaimer: but there is more work to do!