Covid aside, have things ever (on the whole) been better than they are now worldwide?

[Dial H For Hero]

I’m not speaking of this year specifically, mind you. To make the question more specific, is there any period a quarter century long ending no later than 1996 in which (on a worldwide basis) people typically lived better lives than from 1997 to 2021?

[madville]

1. I wouldn't want to live during any other time

Medical technology alone makes this the best time to be alive. The people that all want to live 100 or 200 years ago don’t count that life expectancy was 30-40 years less, half their kids would have died before puberty and women had a 1 in 100 chance of dying during childbirth.

[Dial H For Hero]

4. I'd enjoy visiting the past for a week or two, but that's all.

Then again, as a white male I could likely go back at least a century or two without putting myself in undue danger, presuming I avoid war zones, natural or manmade disasters. etc. Of course, the further one goes back the more likely you'd be to be tripped up by vocabulary or unfamiliarity with the time.

[unblock]

2. In terms of eras, sure, things are great now. But I'm not sure we're better than we were in 10/2016

Growing up with computers being huge, crazy expensive machines that had to be shared with hundreds of other people and operated by professional staff, it's absolutely amazing that today it's ordinary and commonplace for people to walk around with vastly more powerful computers in their pockets and purses.

And to marvel at what the future can be when kids today grow up with that as their baseline.

But it does feel like the last 5 years have been a big step or two backwards. In the long run, it's sure to be just a passing blip. But oh the damage that can be done in the short run...

[Dial H For Hero]

3. Quite so. That's why I threw in the specificity of quarter century periods.

I've seen so many postings over the decades on various forums (going back to the usenet) along the lines of "Things today suck!"

It always makes me think, "compared to what?"


"

[Sympthsical]

5. We often adjust our discomfort to our relative circumstances

If you think about how people lived during WW II, with the rationing and things. People muddled through it. The Depression was an incredibly difficult time.

Compare to the pandemic, where people whined that they had to sit at home and watch Netflix all day. Serious journalists posted endless articles about how we heroically pissed away the hours.

Truly, we live under an unforgiving God.

"I want to eat at a restaurant!" vs. "I want to eat."

[Hortensis]

6. For sure the world's gotten more dangerous since 2016,

and our superpower nation's internal and external destabilizing effects have had a great deal to do with that. I see it more of a skid toward a cliff than backsliding since most of us have not lived in what we're threatening ourselves with now.

I think that's a big part of our problem. We're so used to many layers of comfort and plenty we can't imagine being without. Who having had HVAC all his life can conceive of being cold all winter? The possibility never occurs, and it shows.

But in terms of human wellbeing, we've made fabulous, previously unimaginable advances that are continuing amazingly and will continue to transform our lives, if we don't do it first.

[Blecht]

7. How was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

[Dial H For Hero]

8. I'll still take living in 2021 (Covid and all) over any year from 1970 to the beginning of time.

[The Magistrate]

9. I Don't Know, Sir

'72 was a damned good year I wouldn't much mind being put through again...

[marie999]

10. Worldwide the planet was better before humans existed.

[Dial H For Hero]

11. The very concept of "better" or "worse" is a human one.

While there's certainly less biodiversity now, without sentient beings around to appreciate it...what's the point?