How billionaire elites help fund an Oxford statistics lab that makes the destruction of Earth look just great. Roughly a decade ago, a 30-year-old economic statistician at Oxford University named Max Roser set out to transform the way we see the world using datasets. As he later described his mission in a statement of purpose,he wanted to instill “trust in ourselves” that we can “achieve extraordinary progress for entire societies.” His worldview rested on what he considered the three most salient facts of global civilization: “The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better. All three statements are true at the same time.” The world, having improved greatly for Homo sapiens, can be continuously improved, Roser believed, so long as we do not lose faith in the drive and innovation of global capitalism… Data can also be weaponized, to fabricate soft propaganda and influence minds across professions and age…
