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By objective standards, it isn't worse. Unfortunately, people don't care about objective standards, once they're not hungry cold and in pain they mostly derive their happiness from how well off they are compared to other people they encounter. By that metric more are worse off now.

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This is what we should be discussing - the blatant taking-for-granted of how good things objectively are in favor of a cultural delusion that we are oppressed.

We are living in the best of times as measured by infant mortality, lifespans, literacy, poverty, and technology.

Depends on your frame of reference. In America, things have gotten worse in terms of lifespans, maternal health/mortality, and generally healthcare - when compared to 5 years ago. Partially due to the pandemic, but it remains to be seen if this is the start of a downward spiral or if things will recover soon.

Psychologically, people seem to experience less hope and optimism that the future will be better. That is an important concept as well - regardless of whether you think people are delusional - their subjective perceptions still matter.

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