With headlines dominated by violence and political rivalry, we have forgotten how much good news there has been in 2015.
If the major news events of this past year are any guide, one could be forgiven for thinking the world was heading toward hell in a hand basket at an increasingly rapid rate.
Deaths and injuries from terrorist attacks, from the heart of Western cities to the farthest flung regions in the developing world, have wreaked havoc and are fuelling demands for governments to reduce freedom of movement and speech, and to restrain trade and financial flows.
Natural disasters took their toll on lives and property in 2015, as they are unfortunately always prone to do, with earthquakes in Nepal, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean hurricanes, floods in the United States and Columbia, and bushfires in Australia among the events causing major damage.
The political system was depressingly effective in what it was designed to do, and that is to foment conflict between rival factions within society, with destabilising political machinations and the rise of political reactionaries being key features of the year.
One commentator recently depicted 2015 as an "overwhelming sea of awfulness" marked by terrorism, political excess, and xenophobia. But we should probably recalibrate our strangely inbuilt biases toward fear, pessimism and worry with a reminder this year was not all bad.
Actually, there had been good news throughout the year, and plenty of it.
The need for faster rates of economic growth and productivity is a legitimate concern but even with the economic performances we currently have the world is still managing to reduce poverty.
As I noted a few weeks ago, the World Bank estimates the numbers of people living in extreme poverty globally will fall below ten per cent of the total population this year, and that is based on a higher international poverty line of US $1.90 in earnings each day.
The global extreme poverty rate, at the new poverty line benchmark, fell from 12.8 per cent in 2012 to an estimated 9.6 per cent this year, and that means we are creating wealth for the poor more quickly than we are creating more human beings.
Although global investment and trade flows remain patchy in this low-growth, post-GFC environment, another bright economic spot was news that global employment rose to an estimated 3.2 billion people this year allaying fears that we will all be rendered obsolescent by machines.
Over the last few decades there have been some impressive, even if uneven, social advances in which more minorities and other groups throughout the world won hard-fought improvements for their rights and freedoms.
In May this year the people of Ireland voted to amend their constitution to enable partners of the same sex to be married, in an affirmation of the rule of law when it comes to recognising relationships by the state.
A month later, the United States Supreme Court made a historic ruling enabling same-sex couples to lawfully marry each other.
The Court declared ʻthe Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach,' referring to its landmark 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision, ending a ban on interracial marriages, as a precedent in this regard.
On another promising note, more girls and women around the world are participating in schooling and education than ever before, even in spite of powerful cultural and theological forces opposing such moves to unleash individual talents and aspirations.
There has certainly been a vigorous policy discussion, both here and abroad, about reinvigorating innovation to kickstart global prosperity, but if developments in innovation, science and technology during 2015 are an accurate guide the spirit of human ingenuity remains very much alive and well.
One of the most amazing technological breakthroughs of the year was the successful initiative by a bionics company, in a world first, to 3D print a robotic hand for a British man born without a hand.
The vast potential for 3D printing to improve health care does not necessarily end there, with news this year that surgeons have devised techniques to develop virtual models of their patients and 3D print knee and hip joints tailored to each individual.
Here in Australia, researchers have invented a new kind of bionic heart, pumping blood around the body without a pulse, with the expectation that human transplants will be conducted in about two to three years from now.
The world's first malaria vaccine, which had taken about thirty years to develop, started its roll-out during the year, with preliminary studies indicating it could prevent up to one in four malaria deaths in young children, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
Another major scientific achievement for the year was the successful reconnaissance mission by the New Horizons space probe to Pluto, passing within 12,500km of the dwarf planet before an even lonelier journey through the outer-rim Kuiper Belt.
New Horizons not only provided us with breathtaking images of Pluto, with its vast mountain ranges, ice volcanoes and hazy atmosphere, but has already given researchers new insights into the formation of our solar system.
There are intense concerns about the availability of energy supplies to power our economies and make our living environments more pleasant, even in spite of massive endowments of coal and oil, so innovators have been responding by testing new modes of energy provision.
German researchers earlier this month activated a new, experimental fusion reactor, which took nine years to construct, while Tesla's Elon Musk announced a battery product for installation in homes.
As the positive developments of this year have illustrated, the reality is the bulk of humanity continues to enjoy improvements both in terms of material circumstances and quality of life.
Given the basic human inclination for curiosity, entrepreneurship and ingenuity, there is no reason to believe that optimism for even more good news in 2016 is misplaced.
It is true that much of our daily public narrative seems to be filled up with conflict, horror, sadness and torment, but that is only because the good news enveloping our daily lives is mainly unexceptional and, thus, not newsworthy.
As an eventful 2015 draws to a close, it might be worthwhile to ponder how we might like to play our own parts making 2016 even better for ourselves, our loved ones, and the communities in which we live.
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