[cheema33]

> We're retiring later and later, working more per week

That may be true. But, if somebody offered me a time machine to travel back in time and live at any point in history, would I take it? Hell no.

> purchasing power is going down

That is not a new thing.

> quality of goods is going down

Phones are better. Computers are better. Cars, planes, washing machines ...

> life expectancy is decreasing

On the whole, this is not the case.

> child mortality is increasing

Globally?

> illiteracy is increasing

Globally?

You seem to have a negative view of things. And sure, many things are not great. But the examples you gave are not it.

[pixl97]

Ya some people don't know the difference between their country falling apart versus the world falling apart.

[trgn]

What does it matter the world gets better when your neighbors do worse?

[lm28469]

> their country

Not even, I was taking the US as an example because they're at the front of this "tech will deliver us" hypothesis

[__turbobrew__]

> But, if somebody offered me a time machine to travel back in time and live at any point in history, would I take it? Hell no.

If given a choice I would rather be born in 1940s. 80 years of relative peace, prosperity, cheap education, cheap housing, only single parent needs to work, stronger community network, less overpopulation, better access to doctors, better wealth equality, and you get to partake in the first generation of computers before computers became a method of spying and manipulation of purchasing decisions. Honestly I would much rather be hacking on v6 unix than what I am currently doing.

Sign me up.

[ozim]

„only single parent needs to work”

I always wondered how much truth that was.

Turns out in 1950’s it was true for 65% of households. In 1960’s it dropped to 40% then in 70’s to 30% and in 90’s it landed at 20%.

So while you could support a family on a single income, it still was quite far from universally true and only most likely in the 50’s.

[lotsofpulp]

Would you want to be born a girl in the 1940s? How about as a non white person? And that is assuming you were even born in the US.

Before women had the ability to be professionals earning real money, or access to birth control and many, many other types of healthcare specific to women. Before no fault divorce and before rape within marriage was outlawed?

Decades before the Civil Rights Act and Jim Crow laws still existed?

> better access to doctors

I would take a nurse today over a doctor from the 1940s. The amount of advancement in healthcare between 1940 to today, even just over the counter stuff or information wise from online searches is tremendous.

[habinero]

The monkey's paw curls, and you are born as any of the many many many people who did not have access to any of those things lol.

[eastbound]

But when meeting friends, you’d have to agree in advance to a spot and time and wait aimlessly, so many times in the day. Then you’d pick up smoking or reading depending on your character.

[littlexsparkee]

We've passed 7 of 9 climate tipping points so there's that. What kind of view do you expect a person to have if they pay any sort of attention?

[lm28469]

Not globally, just in the place we let these things run at full speed without regulations: the US

[andrepd]

> But, if somebody offered me a time machine to travel back in time and live at any point in history, would I take it?

This question always implies "to the high middle ages, or to 300CE". Of course I wouldn't. But to the 1990s? Probably I would.