Something that I want to remember

I am only putting this in my blog for posterity.

I know that I have talked about this a lot recently, however I strongly believe in being open about your mental health.

I was put on an antidepressant for a while, which I thankfully no longer need.

However, I am very thankful for modern medicine. One pill daily took away my emotional numbness and gave me back regular human emotions.

Luckily, I never thought about ending my life. However, at the worst of my depression, I only opened my eyes because it was an automatic reflex and I wouldn't have cared had I died. Luckily, I made it through that. 

I would encourage anyone that is struggling with depression to talk to your doctor about possibly being medicated. It was a great help to me.

Something amazing

I was just thinking today about infant mortality. So I decided to ask Google Gemini the following question : Tell me the percentage globally of children in 1900 who died before the age of 5? This was the response: The percentage of children globally who died before age 5 has seen a dramatic decrease from 1900 to 2025.

In 1900:

 * While precise global figures for 1900 can vary, historical data suggests a very high child mortality rate. Some sources indicate that nearly two out of every ten children (around 20%) died before reaching their fifth birthday. Other estimates suggest that around 40% of children perished before age five in the period leading up to the early 20th century. For infant mortality (deaths before age 1), rates around 165 per 1,000 live births were reported in 1900.

In 2025:

 * The global under-5 mortality rate for 2025 is projected to be around 24.99 deaths per 1,000 live births, which translates to approximately 2.5%.

This represents a remarkable reduction in child mortality over the last century, primarily due to advancements in healthcare, sanitation, nutrition, and access to vaccinations and antibiotics.

I also learned that the scientists predict that globally 99% of the children will reach the age of 5 by 2100. That is great news. Humanity in general really can do great things if we can stop trying to kill each other and hopefully we don't create a technology that we can't control. In 1850 the oldest woman in the world was 100. Today we are routinely living into our 80s and beyond. We have come a long way with modern medicine and sanitation.

That is all til next time, Tyler