>> a biological attack is possible. >> swine flu panic grips the nation. >> climate change is killing people. sos sos the media tell us -- >> poverty has reached new b depths. john: but as usual, the media missed the big picture. >> i was only four years old when i saw my mother load theat washing machine for the very first time in her life. w john: his grandmother was thrilled by a washing machine. >> and she sat down in front of, the machine, and she watched entire washing program. >> two, one, fire. john: the machines coming next

are even more mesmerizing thanks to competition -- >> offer a prize, and they will come. john: and build cool new cars c and spaceships.sp >> entrepreneurs can do what only governments could dold d before. john: maybe they'll invent the i new cars on cities built onlt water free the tent calls of neb government -- tentacles from government. ideas have sex. wait, what? yes, this writer explains. >> ideas spread, and when they t meet, they can mate.t jon john and because of that, we live in a wonderful world.n that's a our show constant tonight. ♪ >> and now, john stossel. ♪ and i think to, what a wonderful world ♪ john: what a wonderful world? what are they talking about?

all i hear from the media is doom; unemployment, pollution, social conflict. all those things exist, but it'b good that every once in a whilee someone puts it in perspective. this man did that, he's a swedish public health professoru now, on this show i don't likesh usually to put on swedish public health professors or danish public health professors for that matter. i think they put you to sleep. but hans roseling has caught the world's attention because he gave a tent talk, lectures given by techies, it sands for technology entertainment design. but roseling's talk has been viewed more than 100,000 times. here's a part of it. >> i was only 4 years old when i saw my mother load a washing mam keen for the very first time in her life. that was a great day for myt a mother, even grandma was invited to see the machine.he [laughter] throughout her life she had been heaping water with firewood, ane

she had hand washed laundry for seven children, and she sat dowo in front of the machine, and she watched the entire washing program.he [laughter] she was mesmerized. to my grandmother, the washing machine was a miracle. john: but there are sevenpl billion people on earth, ando most have no access to such miracles. >> so two billion have access to washing machine, and the remaining five billion, how doa? they wash? they wash like this, by hand. it's a hard, time consuminghi labor which they have to do for hours every week. and they want the washing machine. they don't want to spend such a large part of their life doing this hard work with so relatively low productivity. but when i lecture to environmentally-concernedenvi students, they tell me, no, everybody in the world cannoton have cars and washing machines.a how can we tell this woman that

can't have a washing machine? ca washing machine. john: students don't want to everyone are a washing machine? about they have not thought it through, they get concerned about one thing in the world, and they forget. i asked them, how many of you hand wash your jeans and your sheets, no one, once a boy said, but around him there was an empty circle. a sort of a we like it because it is saves so much time. that use, you know of industrial revolution ern wants, when they open it, they say, lonely the power station, and long live the chemical processing industry. john: a good talker, he corrected me on that. viewed by how many? >> totally 10 million. >> and youo a presentation,

most of history people were poor, died before age 40, only recently have things changed. you did a chart this is life span. this is wealth. and for most of history, people have been down here, just recently, united states some other countries are here, but, many people are still we are it here, stuck. >> this is 1800, everyone was down in this sick and poor corners then they moved. this is a reputation of what you had look at on the web page. in countries are getting wealthier this is the united states of america and you this is britain. can you see now. this is australia and new zealand, now at turn of country,

united states on top, they push forward with technology, and market and the economy. a lot of good public health things is being done, the east of the world could china, india, and down here in 60s they lift, they get healthy educated and small families. they start to grow their economy and see they are catching up today, when wieland 2010, -- these country that borrow mon to richest when they have debt problems 92 this. jim: this raises two amazing results from this think about. there has been thousands of years of human rif history evere was stuck in lower lift 4,00 4,- left for thousands of years, how come some are still stuck.

>> this is afghanistan and congo, this is civil war, the best message today is most of the african countries are in fast economy growth, they have corrected the wrong market ideas, they had 20 years a, they have a much better education level of their people today and tanzania has today a situation similar to thailand, 1972. went 40 years we can see african countries doing what asia mas done. john: this is wonderful. >> still 2 billion fellow human buyings are -- beings are in deep poverty, it is not but they are stupid. i found out all poor people are not stupid because otherwise they would be dead.

it takes some small investment to get them out of that, to me, the -- showstude of people, when a young couple grasps and have two kids that is had they decide, we invest in these childrenen, build a decent hous, they should have a better life, that is when they take off. i think that the world is governed from the bedroom, it not the big corporations and banks and the economy. it is the bedroom 92 once they get educated and wealth they have smaller families. >> some help. this fantastic investment in smallpox vaccination and polio saks natiovaccination helps. john: the way that government resources are ice used is cruci.

>> i would agree with you on that. but there are some things that primary school we need the government money but it has to be controlled. john: thank you, next, do you want to le to be 150, my next guest said that first person to to so may have already been born, it might be you. but do you want to be 150? i don't. when we return how advances in medicine may change everything. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it! now we need a little bit more... [ male announcer ] at humana, we understand the value of quality time and personal attention. which is why we are proud to partner with health care professionals

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john: for most of human history, people died by age 30. thirty years was the average life span for thousands and thousands of years. l only with the industrial revolution did that begin toy change, and then it changednd quickly. by 1850 the average life span was almost 40. fifty years later, 47. by 1950, it was up to 68.

and now the average in america's about 78. 76 for men, 81 for women. numbers are going up. and up, says this woman, sonia harrison, author of a book call, a hundred plus, how coming age of longevity will change everything. so, everything? >> everything. john: how much? >> well, in my book i take prems they is--premise short-term 150. john: you say somebody alive today could live 150 years? >> absolutely. john: people hear that say that is creepy, they say we will be old, and misirible, you say opposite? >> we will be health we're for longer periods of time, and enjoying our lives 92 they keep inves body part replacements >> one of the low hanging

fruits, scientists have been able to create brand new human organs in lab using a person's own adult stem cells, bladders, tracheas, human blood vessels they have been created already. john: so, let's assume we accept this, we're healthy, what happens to your life? you work longer? you change jobs? >> sure. john: do you get sick of it. >> the exciting it, there will be so much more opportunity, right now with average life span of 80 years, if you want to be a doctor, a lawyer and a entrepreneur it is tough to have all 3 careers, at least two of those require a longer education, with the longer hit spans we can go back for education and try new careers. john: you say this will change families? >> it will. wild be around longer, more potential to get have more marriages. and, of course, ferlity

extents, you can imagine various different types of family structures, i think there will be more diversity 92 you might hav92.john: you might have a sig 50 years younger than you. >> yep. john: some of this creeps me out a bit, "new york times" op set sa that people should not live nger you lose purpose in life, i melt a guy who said i'm 69, if i make it to 75 i am done, i have had. down you los the edge? is in a natural cyctold life. >> i think people say that because they assume that as you get owedder you get ill, i think that when that is the case, you do sort of lose your luft for life. but if you are healthier and ener in jessic there is no -- energetic there is so much more to do. we need more time. john: now the "new yorker" wrote a profile of the billionaire who wrote forward to your book, and it was a sill profile, one thing

they said, this extending life is not a good idea because all this in technology will be avlable to rich people first. >> that is a knee-jerk reaction, you hear that with any new technology. think about when cell phones first came out, only the rich people had cell phones, yes, and they were the size of a brick, it is a organization thing they were funding that technology it led to cheer smaller devices we all use 9. john: evenly to the get to everyone. rich people will get hurt first. >> they definitely take the most risk, so in some ways it is good thatha happened. the biggest question is how long does it take between the rich

getting it and the poor gettings it.e, that is what is what it comes to new technology. john: on thatat cop happy note,k you.ine it is a wonderful world. more on that when we come back. [ malannouncer ] it'that time of year again. time for cii price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. buy now. save later.

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john: google.el intel. ebay. yahoo.re thinthink of the wealth those companies created for americans. hundreds of thousands of jobs. what a great thing. besides that, what do they have in common?d may not know they were all. cofounded by non-americans. immigrants candides are all prom doing

promise to seal the border, keep immigrants out. we already have rules that number of immigrants that come here. south african computer programmer has it easier. but he would have to wait 6 years. so it makes me think, what if america did not let google and yahoo! founders in? we would have lost a lot. they are not taking steps to allow more entrepreneurs to come here to work, max marty and da dario mtajia have set out to build a ship, and moore it off the coast of california. outside of the reach of immigration controls and foreign entrepreneurs could work here? is that the idea.

>> we call it visa-free start up technology in incubate or, on a ship 12-miles outside of the bay area, that is outside of the u.s. jurisdiction. john: idea is, -- and you are from silicon vley area, you can come to ameca with a tourist visa, work visa, and work for 3 or 6 months but you can't stay, you would have the foreign engineers on the boat, and silicon valley techeniuses would work with them. >> when you come here for a few months on tourist or visas you cannot go to work, you can visit and go to parties. really put silicon valley to the map. >> time is needed for the companies to grow, and enable

them to have that. so they can meet potential investors and partners to grow. small companies, the goal for them to grow, and move to the unite the states. john: you call it the blue system seed projectbusiness see. >> it is a name of a small coany before it grows into next google or a facebook. john: you call this the google flex of the sea. >> we're have silicon valley, we're familiar with the real googleplex, which is an environment where really, intelligence and creative people can work in a familiar circstances. john: -- fantastic circumstanc circumstances. >> great food, a nice environment, conducive to creak of new products and companies, we would like to replicate that

model on our vessel. john: you came up with this idea after graduate school, because? >> when i was in graduate school, i got my mba, there were many people from a parts of the world who wanted to stay "hereafter" they graduated and work on their companies but they were unable to do so, told after you graduate you either get a job with an existing company or live, ferman they did leave, and they took their ideas and their potential companies with them. john: so, they get their fancy education here, and go back to india or somewhere else. >> stem the tide, keep them closer bridge the bring them bae united states. john: if you work for a company you can stay? >> if you are sponsored by a large corporation you can get proper visas, you can't

self-sponsor. you can't be here and create your own start ups without significant legal work and hassles. >> to build this ship where people live costs a lot of money. >> the facebook funder and creator of paypal, is behind this project, he is leading our seed round, so, he will help us to bring in a number of other visitors. john: have you collected 60,000. >> peter onboard giving us a significant fraction of what we need. john: we called one of the large immigration reform groups, they are limited to immigration, bob dane said, they could have paid a higher wage and found americans to do this engineering work, this is nautical grandstanding. >> i would like to address that, this is a way for a company to come, so instead of leaving the united states they will be coming into the united states, i

would think it is the opposite. john: you are both immigrants yourself? >> yes, my parents are from cuba, they came over whether castro took power. >> i and yugoslavia. i am an imgrap myself. john: there is something about kind of people that would like to live their country and try a new kupr country that makes thee likely to build something. >> they have the pa fluoral spirit. >> yes -- entrepreneurial spirit. >> yes that can-do attitude. it has a lot to to with a nation built by immigrants, yes provide a solution to a problem, a entrepreneurial solution. john: you doing, that thank you to you both. coming up, ideas having sex? what?

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>> let's talk about ideas having? one idea gets together months later i am not so sure how it happens with idea is a baby results and when this happens a lot everybody get smarter and the world gets betr. i know this seems like a weird concept is seems weird to me when i first heard it but the more right it seems as good demand and i learned it from. you say the reason why life gets betteis because ideas have sex.

it is spread through trade when they me today can made with different ideas there is a camera pill taking pictures of your insights it came out after a gastroenterologist this is a process similar to sex because through sex bejeezus meet and recombine you get new combinations of genes that cause is innovation fed meeting and meeting of ideas >> sometimes the genes don't have brains sometimes to get worse, a mutation. >> that is certainly true you could have a worse idea but then nobody picks it up for takes it on. to come up with a better idea it spreads. good bit -- good ideas expense base credit expense of the bad ones and the more of the exchange th more

that happen. >> the better life gets in general. >> absolely. i have been so shut up the average inme of the averagperson is three times what it was in life span is 30% one year and child mortality is 20% or because we keep improving each other's living standards. >> you like to show this picture. this is the hand acts is sits on my desk at home then i noticed one day they are exactly the same size and shape. the hand acts is the hon burying design half a million years. they did not have been ovationut made from us single substance but the mouse is made from plastic and metal in so on and it combines different ideas from different people and

places and they all come together if this technology and that is how we are better off since we have these combinations of ideas. >> the mouse improves so often a one 1/2 from a few ars ago is out of date. >> that one, i never use it. >> this works for a free exchange of ideas but not if there is central planning. >> exactly. one of the things the way ideas come together is it creates things that are greater than the sum of its parts with things we don't understand. nobody knows how to make a computer mouse. >> somebody knows. >> but no one person. >> exactly the knowledge is shared. no-brainer knows how to make a pencil.

it is the collective brain and that means when you try to substitute and individual intelligence by putting a man in charge, he nnot do us good of a job as the collection of all of us working together each of us knowing a little bit of the pitcher. john: a computer mouse may have parts from india, china, the united states in hundreds of people who should it come up with the box, 1 million people may contribute to the mouse. >> they were all working for me when they made it. it is my mouse. you have to include the guy in brazil who is in drinking and who is on the oil rig on the plastics factory they arall working for me which is the duty of the system that to be worked for each other all the time we are each other's servants.

john: it is all voluntary. >> that's right. this new force the guy who makes the mouse to work for me or for me to work for him. which is just as easy because i have the money. john: you argue even if it is the dumb people getting together the ia is having sex that shows the brilliant central planners. >> this is why the ossio with iq and if some groups have higher iq thanroup others in a statement tuesday if you look at human history, organization, lots of people talking to each other however stupidle they are can achieve aa lot more than a lot of people in the room who never talk to each other. who don't talk to eacother. it is how well they communicate and exchange ideas. >> mentioning higher living standards, look at one of

the richest people in the world. louis xiv. at the time his life was wonderful. >> he had 498 people to prepe hinner town.arin probably a better meal than he had because he probably had salmonella rather more often than you did. john: plus i had air conditioning and flush toilets, all because of invisible hand. >> if you took your own salary back 40 years and tried to time travel back to the 1960s, you would be rich as a king compared to a numbe the number of adultst however he still could not by a very good luck-i kept a vendor in the street, you cannot have t have wheels that should case, there are a ton of things that life has improved even over and above monetary improvements. john: so because of this you call yourselves the rational optimist.

>> i was fed up with this mess. when i was a student in the 1970s, the grown-ups told me their future in the world wasts. bleak.he w the oil was running out, the population was unstoppable. john: he wrote a book, the scientific experts in 1972 wrote the limits of growth. the world would run out of oil by 1892, natural gas 1894, oil by 2003. >> i believe them. a lot of people did come u it ws all running out. and so i feel kind of crossed that nobody said anything optimistic about how the resources might not run out, they might become more abundant, and might actually get cheaper rather than more expensive that might be possible to have higher living standards and do less damage as we do so.

the air might get cleaner, the weather might get cleaner, all of these things have happened. healthier, happier, cleaner, kinder, more peaceful and more equal if you look at the picture globally. john: because ideas had sex. bill gates criticized this option. fa worrying about the worst-case can actually help drive a solution. >> and i do not think that is true. if you look at where the solutions come from, they come from optimistic people living in rich places like steve jobs or archimedes in ancient greece or leonardo, these are not people driven by desperation written by worry. i think it is the pessimist who are the complacent ones these days. this is as good as it can get, technologies, better be carefulr

of genetically modified food iny case they are worse than the existing techhology. i think the world is great. john: thank you. coming up, who wants to go into space? you? my next guest says soon we can all be able to go there. [ male announcer ] this is the age of knowing what you're made of. why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor.

john: tonight we talk about how innovation makes life better, but where does innovation come from? politicians say from us, from government. the big success story is american putting a man on the moon. but think about it. nasa put a man on the moon but spent billions and have not been back in 40 years.moon

>> offer a prize and they willa come.ze a >> the first team to launch three people into space and they want $10 million. now another one for a private moon landing. it iis a sample of a device. creative innovation driven by entrepreneurs taking their own risks. competition for a car gets 100 miles per gallon drawing 100 entrepreneurs. the design competition was first. cars had to pass it looks test. 24 teams will compete to win. the man who raised the money for the prize is peter.

joining us now from los angeles. we have new crisis now. >> we do, figuring out where there are those not being driven by large companies or government really challenging entrepreneurs to make the impossible possible. john: who puts up the price? >> money comes from for a rangf different groups. the on sorry family, wendy schmidt competition for oil cleanup, or it could be large corporations, progressive insurance or qualcomm, it is very effective leverage fashion. john: often w we assume this innovation has been pushed by government.

>> more than ever before we have as individuals small teams with technology,e the ability to do extraordinary things with our intelligence. computing power at our fingertips as people, that was decades ago. john: the government was topral down planning, all the entrepreneurs to do stuff. >> anybody around the world solves this first, when you're looking for a needle in the haystack, typically we have tens or hundreds of teams around the planet some of whom you may never have found because they come into existence incentivized by the competition facing maybe i can do that, and they come with nontraditional ideas we think about this, these

incentive competitions allow for crazy ideas to bubble to the top, demonstrate what they canmt do and become the breakthrough.p john: if you have $10 million offer for a car that gets 100 miles per gallon, if somebody invents that, they would make more than that in the market. the why does the prize stingley at all of this action? >> that it's a great question. we are wired to compete. we do our best work when we are competing in a sports in all different parts of our lives. this might be impossible, but here's a very clear objective, the first person to pull this offec wins. it enters our psyche and it drives people to say how could i do that? and literally they form teams and go after it, we're hearing all about this news of paul allen and the straddle launch vehicle. he won the first, and he was

inspired by this competition. he went out and got him to back him, $10 million prize draw $100 millionth expenditures by l 2016 competing for that. launching the industry.. that is the kind ofs th extraordinary leverage, but these can create. john: last year billionaire richard branson bought the design and is testingar virgin galactic spaceship two. which he plans to take tourists into space.o >> i've got my ticket. john: the idea i know about is charles lindbergh. >> that was my incentive. read about him cross the atlantic to win $25,000 prize.

efficienterful and ways to incentivizedgs breakthrough. look back through history, incredible history that hope in three of the device. one of the cool prizes from this past year, wendy schmidt, saw the bp oil still going on, on on.on and we literally said what can we do about that? james cameron said let's clean up oil spills, siu held a competition, and said for the last 21 years, the best anyone has ever done was 1100 gallons per minute cleaning up on the oil surface. john: so you offered a million dollars to improve on that. speaker wendy schmidt offered $n

to improve upon that. what can $1.4 million due.do multi-billion dollars industry, it has been pretty stagnant. seven of the 10 teams that competed in doubled the industry standard, and thdue winning team quadrupled what had been the industry standard, so they're going into production and hopefully will reinvent who clean up oil spills in the future. a million dollars can reinvent and industry. john: this makes for a wonderful world with abundance. thank you. next, my take on our wonderfulow world.

ally bank. why they have a raise your rate cd. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent,can you te what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally.

john: we in the media do a lot of complaining. iran is working on bombs, global warming might kill us. but death is rising and there is much too much regulation. these kill jobs and freedom read yet he keeps on adding more. the bureaucracy of obamacare is coming. the drug war wages on the nanny state even raised food market. give us a break. in the news business we focus on bad news, it is our job. if a plane crashed into a studio and kills us, that is news.

so it is good and the end of the year to step back once and notice this is a wonderful a world. even though we constantly add these stacks of ridiculous regulation.di entrepreneurs overcomecu it.s their ideas have sex with othera people's ideas and give birth to better things.he n i don't know what the next breakthrough will be, the next decades equivalent to a washing machine or i've had, but i'm sure there will bead some. maybe it will come from a competition like the extra. lindberg first crossed the atlantic to win a prize. i did not know six people died trying to win it. he succeeded because he came up with new ideas. i don't need a copilot, i will fly solo.ro he trimmed the edges off of his mast to save weight.

he succeeded, he did with government said could not beng t done in the age of commercialam aviation. while life in america is tough for a lot of people today, life for most of a better life than ever existed in the history of the world. we live longer than ever. here's a chart of the average american lifespan. this is one reason entitlement will bankrupt us but terrible unemployment still above 8%. i blame big government and regulation but i should step back and remember this year america added 1.4 million newmi jobs. and even if we have 10% unemployment, that still means 90% have work. and income. in the history of the world, that is unusual. the water and air cleaner than usual.

capitalism may be vilified by much in the media that makes oua lives better, and we celebrate it. that is our show for tonight, good night. ♪ ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪

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