What has improved over time?

[Lunar Templar]

game making tools have improved drastically over the relatively short time they've been around.

though I'm not entirely convince people know how to use them .....

 

[theSteamSupported]

[person on person accusation]

More people than ever are starving of hunger and disease than ever before.

On an absolute scale, maybe, but that's simply because there are more people period living right now. If we look on a relative scale, it's a different story. Third world nations has done huge improvements on their population's health conditions.

War has become more brutal and total

Wrong, there are less armed conflicts going on in the world now than ever before, most of which aren't even betwen two sovereign states.

We are destroying the environment

That I can agree on, but it's irrelevant in this specific discussion. It's a crisis we'll eventually overcome.

Society is atomized more than ever

That statement is too vague. I think I'll pass.

Modern technology and ideas brought about the greatest and most senseless slaughters of human life on a mass industrial scale, etc. etc.

Those kinds of weapons are barely being used. While I oppose the development and production of such weapons (I'm a pacifist after all), I don't think their existence somehow proves that all humans are therefore evil and depraved.

That's the condition I'm referring to. While the veneer has become more civilized, the heart of darkness is darker than ever, thanks to modernity.

<url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau>Do you like Jean-Jacques Rousseau?

[person on person accusation]

In the end, it's normal for us to fear new things, it's part of the human psyche. That part of the psyche is especially present in these times as our civilization is currently facing a huge paradigm shift. Labour is becoming more and more automatized. Cultures are clashing with each other as never before. We are just starting to figure out how to apply game mechanics into all aspects of society. As the human population expands, so does the amount of ideas emerging and being put into practise.

The world isn't rotting. It's getting louder.

 

[Jazoni89]

Medicine - From infant mortality rates through life expectancy, all better.

Information - I'm only in my mid-30s, but this change is immense. My kids will never get totally lost driving unless they want to do it for fun.

Technology - Already several great examples here.

Civilization - I have no fear that people from a neighboring village will show up, kill me, burn my house down, and take my wife and daughters as sex slaves. This is pretty unusual in the breadth of human existence.

Society - No one I know is property. My daughters will marry for love, not because I sold them for some goats. At our current trends, they will even be able to marry other women if that is their inclination. If they differ from societal norms, they will be able to find groups of like minded people rather than be, say for example, legally tried as witches and executed. Classes of people, divided by race, gender, or caste are not considered inferior (at least not officially, and those who argue that they are inferior are mocked or scorned for doing so).

Waste water treatment - There is not a pit of my bodily waste next to my house. It exits my neighborhood underground, goes through a variety of treatments, and is returned to the water table. My odds of dying from a disease brought on by a lack of sewage treatment is extremely low.

Agriculture and food storage - Tonight, I had a sausage, mushroom and onion pizza with tomato sauce for dinner. I bought it for $4 a few days ago, took it out of the freezer today and it was ready in about 20 minutes. The wealthiest, most powerful Pharaoh of Egypt could not have done the same (Not in the least because tomatoes are native to the Americas).

Religious tolerance - At least in the country I live in, my religious views will not get me killed.

Long story short, if I could be transported in time to any period in history to live out the rest of my life, I'd pick as close to now as possible.

To add to your religious tolerance.

Homosexuality tolerance has improved drastically even over the last ten years. What seemed like social suicide in the 80's or even the 90's, is now completely acceptable.

Hell, most mainstream cultures have embraced gay culture with open arms, what with various programs, inclusion's in video games (such as Mass Effect, and Fallout New Vegas), and parades which thousands of gay people turn up for.

I'm not Gay myself, but I have Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual friends, and they rarely get called out for it when they admit it, and when they do, it's just in a passing conversation.

 

[Timberwolf0924]

Horror Movies.. I mean back in the day. They were all realistic and made us wonder what was happening.. now days with cg and greenscreen it's so much better.. JasonX ftw!

Acutally thats a lie, horror movies are horrible now a days.

Captcha: Back To basics

I agree random internet wording!

Spoiler: Proof

 

[Belaam]

I agree with the sentiment, but not with the argument. You're applying your own moral standards to previous times, that's a historical fallacy. We can't judge the part based on our standards.

Of course we can. The whole point of the post is comparing eras through our contemporary lens. The OP argues that people argue through today's lens that the past was superior, and called for refuting that. It is a historical fallacy, but one I am unable to easily ignore. If I grew up in a society where effectively owning one's wife was the norm vs. being raised by a single mother, I would definitely have different views.

More people than ever are starving of hunger and disease than ever before. War has become more brutal and total, we are destroying the environment, society is atomized more than ever, modern technology and ideas brought about the greatest and most senseless slaughters of human life on a mass industrial scale, etc. etc.

Per capita or straight numbers of people? History is full of complete genocides of people that went without condemnation (or if you believe the Bible, with the full support of God). While we have had larger genocides in recent history, they are far more likely to be condemned. If you start talking the Armenian genocide, Holocaust, or Pol Pot today versus Ghengis Khan, or other historical battles wherein every man, woman, and child of the opposing city was slaughtered. For all that its problems, the U.N. and Geneva Codes have led to a lessening of the horrors or war even as technology has increased the potential for those horrors. And indeed, only a half century later, you are unlikely to hear people rant enthusiastically about Hiroshima.

That's the condition I'm referring to. While the veneer has become more civilized, the heart of darkness is darker than ever, thanks to modernity.

I would disagree, but suspect we aren't changing each other's minds at this point.