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[Hemingwayoffbase]

Whatever timeline you want to define, answer the simple question:

Was life better in the past?

 

[DKehoe]

Modern medicine alone means I'm taking the present over the past any day.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Absolutely not, no plumbing, no penicillin, no secularity, segregation/slavery etc..
The past was fucking horrible.

 

[Blade2.0]

Depends what you're asking about? Americans have better tech than before, but most people can't afford it. If you mean, are things better than in the past, I'd say medicine, tech, etc is all better. However, being able to support a family on one income is almost out the door accept for the top 10% of Americans, we work longer hours for less pay and everything is more expensive like housing, medical care, food, etc. Having the best doesn't matter if only 10% get to use it. I will say, though. I don't want to go back to before the internet. I mean I wouldn't be able to chat with you fine folks or watch my shows without having to wait a week for the next episode to come on. That is demonstrably better to me. Everything else surrounding the tech, however, has gotten worse.

 

[Rentahamster]

Define "better".
Specify what area of the "past".

 

[6502]

2000 was infinitely better than now. Go much before that and not so much.

 

[Rentahamster]

4,000,000 BC was a vibe

 

[DeafTourette]

Depends which era and timeframe. Anything before 1975 was INFINITELY worse for someone who looks like me. It got marginally better afterwards... Still got a ways to go NOW but it's a lot better than during MLKs time.

 

[Mexen]

In 1990, I couldn’t afford a house.

It’s 2024 and I still can’t afford a house.

Fuck.

 

[John Bilbo]

 

[Tams]

While there is an absolute nonsense these days, partly because life is so relatively easy now that people have time and energy to think it; now is better.

Seriously, how shit life was for most people even 70 years ago is barely comprehensible these days.

That said, the '90s and '00s were the best and had just the right balance.

 

[poppabk]

I visited the Biltmore estate not so long ago and for all the lavishness and insane money spent, I couldn't help thinking that I have shit in my average everyday life today that they would have given anything for.

 

[Raven117]

Sure seems like the 90's and early aughts were great. Many modern conveniences, but not the stupidity of "social media."

 

[gaming_again]

No. It's funny how the best time ever for anything always coincides with the person saying that having been 17-25. I find myself falling into this trap all the time.

Life was definitely different though, and differences means some things were certainly better than now. And some of those are a big deal. But overall, no, I don't think so. As a financially comfortable westerner, life is pretty damn sweet.

 

[T-0800]

The 80s were pretty good. Doesn't mean I want to go back.

 

[Billbofet]

I think it's more about your level of responsibility defining your "best" time, and that's likely why everyone focuses on their high school/college years.
I wish I could go back knowing what I know now so I could enjoy it even more. That said, no regrets!!

 

[jason10mm]

I think the 80's into the early 90's were, overall, a "better" time. Globalization hadn't yet taken hold, you could work a wide range of jobs and still get by, there were "enough" electronics to have fun but not be a social media zombie, and art was at it's peak.

The only bummer was HIV squashing "free love" for a horny teen*. Dammit!

* as if a nerd like me could get laid even in the 60's

 

[RJMacready73]

Pre advent of social media/internet was vastly superior, i.e. 80's/90's early naughties, life was good, each new gaming generation was a massive step up, people actually communicated face to face, kids played outdoors and where left to their own devices all day without a care in the world, I hate that my kids are missing out on the sort of childhood I had

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

I would say the 2000s

Before the 2010s when the internet really started to get taken over by the nutsos

 

[ForAcademicPurposes]

 

[Rockondevil]

I say present based on the length of time the earth has been around.
Sure there were a couple of recent decades that could be argued are better, but that's all recent history.

 

[Peggies]

I was born in 1984 in a city that had all the pros of big citylife but none of the cons. In one of the richest countries in the world with the best social system one could wish. No nearby or noticeable wars. Worldwars, climate change, nuclear anxiety...all that shit was just something I knew from school(books). Climate change was something "not even our grandchildren will notice".

 

[FunkMiller]

Late nineties is when things were absolutely at their best.

 

[bender]

I'd go with the past. All the niceties that have extended the average human life span and brought them comfort have destroyed the planet.

 

[Hugare]

As mentioned before, late 90's/ early 2000's was awesome

 

[TGO]

Late 90's/2000's up to early 2010's

 

[IDKFA]

Depends.

In some ways the past was better. In other ways the present is better.

On a personal level, the late 90s and early 00s were better. Just everything seemed more relaxed and the world was a more optimistic place in this period.

 

[winjer]

Like most, if by the past you mean something a couple of decades ago, I would say that past was better than what we have now.
But if we are talking a century, or millennia, then it's a definite no. The amount of wars, the lack of modern medicine, no democracy, no human rights, no electricity, a ton of superstition, religious persecution, racism everywhere, slavery legal around the world, etc....

Today we have problems, but we are much better than people in past centuries.

 

[Laptop1991]

The past, quality of life, more freedom, better films and TV shows that were new, cheaper prices, more variiety and i was a lot younger!

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

If you were wealthy? It’s debatable. You’d have land, properties, slaves/servants, food, priority service, tuition. You may not even have to work a day. The law would judge you much differently than it’d do most people. And if you were a man, you’d be amongst the very few who could vote. Sure, you could always catch a disease, but good nutrition, a clean manor and the best doctors around would still give you a pretty good chance of healing, especially after 1850. Injuries would still be a problem, though, and wealthy people were prone to those like any other.

If you weren’t wealthy? No comparison with today. Sure, little social mobility would mean you’d get used to the cards dealt to you by chance and you could be pretty happy in spite of having very little. But when things went south, there was very little you could do.

 

[ÆMNE22A!C]

Whatever timeline you want to define, answer the simple question:

Was life better in the past?

Preface: thinking out loud

For me it depends on what I've been into regarding certain perspectives of our past which don't correlate with the general accepted timeline and past civilizations. I'd say better.

 

[ClanOfNone]

We peaked during the 80’s, once 2000 hit it became a rocket powered race straight to the bottom.

 

[AJUMP23]

I liked my childhood through the 80s. But the best moment to live is the moment you are currently in, it is the only place you can make a difference.

 

[ÆMNE22A!C]

I liked my childhood through the 80s. But the best moment to live is the moment you are currently in, it is the only place you can make a difference.

Haven't all your previous decisions made a difference to the moment you're continuing making a difference through decisions?

 

[ÆMNE22A!C]

Define "better".
Specify what area of the "past".

Underrated post.

OP pls clarify.

 

[AJUMP23]

Haven't all your previous decisions made a difference to the moment you're continuing making a difference through decisions?

Yes but the moment has past and the decision was made. Now you must move forward. Make a decision. Certainly the past informs, and future plans inform.

 

[ÆMNE22A!C]

Yes but the moment has past and the decision was made. Now you must move forward. Make a decision. Certainly the past informs, and future plans inform.

Indeed. It's great advice. Alas, I'm not particularly good at living in the moment mostly.

Still it's an free for all thread when we don't apply Rentahamster post and have a baseline to work with.

 

[BlackTron]

Better than 200 years ago, yes. Better than the 90s, no

 

[Trogdor1123]

I said better but only a bit back. The 90s were pretty awesome. Communism was gone but the fear of it remained, except the fear of nuclear war was nearly gone. There was great medicine still and people were fitter. People still had some sense. Our population was able to support itself through growth and people made decent money.

It’s the peak decade in my mind

 

[Trunx81]

The past is better, because it´s already over.
The present is worse, because you still have to live through it.
The future is even worse, because this is where your worries lie.

 

[INC]

Better morals
Better clubs
Better drugs
No camera phones or social media
Better films
Everything was cheaper

So yeh past

 

[NecrosaroIII]

My parents first house cost them 12k in 1993.

That house is worth 172k now.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

I feel that before there was more respect and education of women towards men, there were more values and respect.

Social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter arrive and have greatly harmed girls.

They think that because of a video, if the man acts in such a way, it has a meaning and is wrong.

I feel the current times are worse in terms of values.

 

[Rival]

The past sure seemed simpler. I wish I could go back and do it all again one more time.

 

[analog_future]

As a 90s kid, the past was better. Post 9/11 has been a bit of a hellscape.


With that said, for many (particularly women, homosexuals, and minorities) the past would've been undoubtedly worse. Particularly prior to the 90s.

 

[Pagusas]

Yes and No. Somethings were better, somethings were not.

As a white male though, I'd love to be back in the 90's. I recognize why others would not though.

 

[ÆMNE22A!C]

Whatever timeline you want to define, answer the simple question:

Was life better in the past?

Baseline/context ??
It isn't simple my friend.

 

[poodaddy]

In "the past" I wouldn't have made it to age ten. I had some pretty severe health problems as a kid that resulted in four surgeries by the time I was 14, and then in my later years as a young man I had a shoulder repair surgery, three foot repair surgeries, a stomach surgery.

Whatever you quantify as "the past", (pretty wide gap between the middle ages and the 50's so maybe it should be quantified more), I probably wouldn't have made it without modern medicine, so I'll take the present.

 

[ÆMNE22A!C]

Define "better".
Specify what area of the "past".

 

[Grildon Tundy]

For us plebs, it's better today than ever. Still kinda sucks though lol