
Reasons 2016 was a great year for humanity - whiddershins
https://medium.com/future-crunch/99-reasons-why-2016-has-been-a-great-year-for-humanity-8420debc2823#.x7y51rovg
======
arcanus
Missing the biggest triumph of 2016 by far: the victory by DeepMind's machine
learning algorith at Go over the greatest living human player.

At this time last year it was highly questionable if humans would ever lose to
algorithms at games as complex as Go.

Now we have reason to be optimistic that an entire class of problems are
amenable to solution through computation, and more evidence super-human
synthetic intelligence is indeed possible.

~~~
candu
...and hundreds of millions worldwide who have been saved from malaria or
lifted out of extreme poverty would likely disagree with you: what good is
super-human synthetic intelligence several decades from now (assuming that's
even a tractable generalization of largely task-specific ML models) if you're
not sure where your next meal comes from?

~~~
estsauver
Well, I founded a startup that's using ML to help turn satellite data into
credit risk profiles for the world's poorest farmers so we can sell them
fertilizer and seed.

So... I think tensor flow is going to be pretty great for the 1K farmers we're
working with this year and ~50k we're going to try and reach next year.

~~~
carterehsmith
> help turn satellite data into credit risk profiles for the world's poorest
> farmers so we can sell them fertilizer and seed

Not sure if satire or serious :].

~~~
estsauver
Completely serious, we're alumni of The Climate Corporation.

Satellite data is cheap or in many cases free, and the cost of sending a
trained loan officer out to the field is far too high to justify.

Shoot me an email at earl@apolloagriculture.com and I'd be happy to chat more.

------
CiPHPerCoder
So much of this list was about conservation and environmental issues that it
was almost frustrating to filter it out.

I have nothing against these topics, but when you dominate your list with one
theme and don't address that theme in the lede, I reflexively assume the
author is attempting to pull the wool over my eyes. There is almost certainly
some sampling bias going on, at least.

~~~
sgustard
How would you propose making a list of "99 reasons 2016 was a good year"
without "sampling bias"? The entire premise of the article depends on your
definition of the word "good".

I agree this article is viewed through a liberal lens. A conservative's list
would be very different: opened up vast new areas to oil drilling! Outlawed
abortion in more countries! Rolled back environmental regulations that protect
penguins over jobs! Reduced crime with stiffer prison sentences!

~~~
protomyth
> A conservative's list would be very different: opened up vast new areas to
> oil drilling! Outlawed abortion in more countries! Rolled back environmental
> regulations that protect penguins over jobs! Reduced crime with stiffer
> prison sentences!

and that's why liberals lose elections - one of these years we'll skip the
caricatures

~~~
noobermin
You ignore the last two elections. We'd all do well to avoid succumbing to
recent-ism.

~~~
protomyth
Not really, I guess you mean 2012 and 2008, but looking at 2010, 2012, 2014,
and 2016; you see a pretty interesting trend in both national elections and
state houses.

------
_ph_
A great list to read through, when one thinks that there is no hope. Not
through any miracles, but through dedicated work, a lot of issues have been
improved at least. While there are no magical solutions, it shows that a lot
is achievable and being achieved, by just working at the problems.

------
bagrow
Pessimistically (I know, I know), it seems to me that recent events put many
of these advances under threat. Science funding cuts and rollbacks of
environmental protections can take out half the list or more. How great can
these accomplishments really be if they can be so easily undone?

~~~
Semiapies
You're really asking whether anything can be an accomplishment if it can be
later ruined or undone.

~~~
libeclipse
There's a fine line between it being possibile and probable.

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sgift
First: Yay. At least something.

Nitpick: There are still many parts "announced" and the half-life of
announcements is about one election cycle, so ... hoping that at least a few
of these announcements will be replaced with actions by Dec. 2017.

------
newswriter99
Some of these are objectively good, such as world literacy increasing, less
pollution in the atmosphere or survival rates increasing for endangered
species.

Then it lost me with "Oh and smoking bans are good and global human population
increases are good and also drilling=evil corporations so banning it across
the board=good"

Those are debatable. Not very politically neutral is it.

~~~
_ph_
Less smoking is very good for the population health.

While population increases are not good by themselves, all reduction in
mortality is very good for everyone who has not to die. Interestingly this
seems to have the consequence that the birth rates decline strongly as
observed in many places.

Drilling is not bad because of "evil corporations", but because it regularly
is accompanied by harming the environment, be it through the drilling,
building roads through natural forests or oil spills.

~~~
entropyneur
> Less smoking is very good for the population health.

But what is population health good for if not enjoying life? Including (for
some people) things like smoking a cigarette.

~~~
_ph_
An interesting question. With many things we have to balance the fun of the
moment with the long term consequences, even with plain food. But with
smoking, especially cigarettes, this is a quite one-sided balance. Even
without the risk of cancer, every single cigarette will do considerable,
irrevocable harm to your lungs. And I know few people wo smoke lightly,
Nikotin is extremely addictive. Finally, there is the impact on other people,
if one smokes in their presence.

~~~
entropyneur
I guess I shortened my point too much to make it sound pretty. The real fun
being taken away here is of course not smoking, but making your own choices. I
myself kicked a very bad smoking habit for the exact reasons you mention.

------
powera
Everything is awesome!

~~~
trey-jones
Well, some things are awesome, which is a truly a relief from the normal
"Everything sucks." that we get on a daily basis. I was glad to read through
these.

------
fbreduc
when can we go there to junk it up

------
vlunkr
I'm so sick of the meme that 2016 is a bad year. It's just confirmation bias.

~~~
ythn
Cons of 2016:

\- Brexit

\- Trump

\- some famous people died

Pros of 2016:

\- Brexit

\- Trump

\- some famous people died

~~~
vlunkr
The famous people dying is the stupidest part. Guess what, famous people are
going to die every year.

~~~
ythn
It's a pro and a con.

Pro: Fidel Castro died

Con: Alan Rickman died

------
ekianjo
> 32\. Homelessness in the United States declined by 35% since 2007, and Los
> Angeles committed to $1.2 billion to help get more people off the street.

You mean the same city which destroyed DIY small houses on wheels made by
volunteers for homeless people and left them nothing to endure the cold winter
months ? [http://reason.com/reasontv/2016/12/09/los-angeles-
homeless-t...](http://reason.com/reasontv/2016/12/09/los-angeles-homeless-
tiny-houses)

That's not a great policy to highlight in 2016. And that's just one point, I'm
sure the whole list is filled with false-positive news.

