>>Ray Kurzweil: There's a very strong body
of opinion that the world is going to hell
in a hand basket and that technology is responsible
for that. So let's take a broad view and look
at a few parameters and harbingers of human
well-being.
On the X axis here on a logarithmic circle
is the Wealth of Nations. The big red circle
is China. It was in the hundreds of dollars
per person in today's dollars in 1800.
On the X axis, it's life expectancy. It was
in the 20s and 30s for these different countries.
37 was the average. So, in the early industrial
revolution, not much happened. But you will
see, as we get into the 20th Century a wind
carrying these nations up toward the upper
right-hand corner towards greater wealth and
greater health. And there's still a have/have
not divide. But the world is getting better.
At the end of this process, the countries
that are worst off are far better off than
the countries that were worst off at the beginning
of this process.
