A famous theory in philosophy is the anthropic principle, which argues that the reason the various physical constants and laws of nature are consistent with an environment that can support life is because if life were impossible, no life would be able to observe the universe. Simply put, it argues that the reason the universe seems so improbably perfectly tuned for us to exist in it, is that we exist to observe it.
What if we applied a similar theory to modern world history? Since the advent of nuclear weapons, we now have the capability of destroying human civilisation with the push of a button. There have been so many incidents in the past century where international tensions and mistakes have nearly resulted in thermonuclear war, such as during the Cuban Missile Crisis. However, through improbable coincidences (and the moral fibre of certain heroes), we continue to live on as a species.
But perhaps history only seems so full of coincidences because we are still alive to study it. For our reality to exist, human beings have had to resist the urge to annihilate themselves. Ergo, the longer we live through the Atomic Age, the stranger our reality becomes, as otherwise we would have been wiped out. Zach Weinersmith calls this the anthroponuclear multiple worlds theory.
So perhaps this explains why we are seeing crazier and crazier stories on the news as of late. As in any other sensible timeline, we would all be dead.
(Source: http://smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3994)
