What happened to the theory that the deaths were decreasing because we burned through our buffer of people susceptible to deaths of despair? That always seemed reasonable to me.
But this attitude smells an awful lot like the stupid person's eugenics. Let's not cater to it.
It does not matter to me if Elon Musk makes another billion dollars if I am making more as well. That does not cause "despair" to a well adjusted person.
Extreme poverty on the other hand (which has been decreasing) does cause these deaths. When people have nowhere left to go and no hope, they to turn to drugs.
Mental illness is another cause. I wonder if we should have gotten rid of asylums.
Yes, you can buy a smartphone. But most of what makes us care for each other has died. Why not kill yourself today, Sisyphus? There are fewer reasons than ever.
As long as conditions are materially improving, we are doing well. It is up to people to maintain a psychological outlook commensurate with their incredible quality of life gains. If they don't manage to do that, that is a personal failure caused by envy, not an inherent structural problem with wealth inequality.
Perhaps there's another place where poverty is a greater curse, though. But I would rather be poor in Burundi or Haiti than Ohio—at least I can sleep outside without dying and my neighbor won't fucking shoot me for existing. But this is what i get for living in the us, the place with the most evil people to have ever lived.