[muzani]

Yes. Southeast Asian here. Things used to be very bad - money was power, money bought money, corruption was rampant. Technology has actually evened things - chainsaws, bread, tractors, up until the fintech, e-commerce, and so on today. Violent race conflicts have gone down. Corruption and abuse is significantly more difficult; no longer does one political party own all the media, the CCP.

I think the Western world has gone through a bit of a bubble though. Throughout history, full time jobs are not the norm. Corruption-free politics are not normal. War, pestilence, famine, death are normal cycles of life. One does not simply have 30 year plans; houses get bombed, companies die, low risk investments are an outlier. Black swan events should be expected. MAD is a Nash equilibrium, but it's not stable - eventually an irrational person will lead a nuclear country.

I think we're going through a correction, not a decline. Nuclear policy is likely the scariest thing now.

Climate change will affect all of us and be the main source of black swan events. SE Asia actually takes it very seriously - all three major political parties in Malaysia proposed it within top 5 priorities. That may be because rising sea levels affect us severely. But if some developing countries can take it seriously, I expect the whole world will be on board with it as well.