Feel like questions such as these are always relative, i.e., it's easy to do what @MOP is doing and fall into the trap of human pessimism if one does not remove their personal experiences from the overall picture.
like i said, nothing relative about the economy going through another recession or coral reefs bleaching, haven't really mentioned anything about my own personal experiences and even then it wouldn't really matter-but life's mostly been good where im at-which is what makes things all the more tragic having to realize this in the midst of a pandemic.
Yes, even with the threat of war, climate crisis, and economic upheaval we're still much better off today than in the past
lol you really think so? in the past when a civilization collapsed it didn't mean global destabilization or near-term human extinction, it mostly just meant a reset/restart(im probably simplifying it too much and making it seem a lot less terrifying but whatevs) compared to what we're facing nowadays- which is a whole myriad of environmental, political and societal issues that pretty much threaten our existence. there's one good analogy for it that comes from this article (
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2019 ... n-collapse), "Think of civilisation as a poorly-built ladder. As you climb, each step that you used falls away. A fall from a height of just a few rungs is fine. Yet the higher you climb, the larger the fall. Eventually, once you reach a sufficient height, any drop from the ladder is fatal."
I also do not believe there has been any better point for historically disenfranchised groups like women & minorities than the current era. Some countries have shitty policies which feel as if progress is being rolled back or stagnated, but they are the exception. Bad outcomes still happen around the world, but we are improving the ways in which we respond and deal with them.
when it comes to White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant America, sure- we definitely don't have anymore gentrification, redlining policies or incarceration rates that serve to keep black communities downtrodden(
https://sites.psu.edu/jjscivicissues/20 ... s-effects/) or the latest in anti-lgbt+ bills that are being passed in states like alabama, texas and florida(
https://abcnews.go.com/US/alabama-legis ... d=83940764, (
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... -ideology/).
dunno if i'd say 71 countries is the
exception(
https://www.humandignitytrust.org/lgbt- ... alisation/), far from it and if the past paragraph indicates; there are special interest groups in the US that are dead-set in their efforts to keep the aforementioned minorities downtrodden and roll back what little progress has been made. you might be right in that the US is an oasis(to some extent) for those who aren't of the typical kind, but history has shown that these rights for minorities have to be constantly fought for, engaged with and renewed, otherwise it's the same result in most autocratic countries. considering the resurgence in fascism and reactionary thought we are starting to experience, i think it's safe to say we will most likely see a lot more focused attacks(be it physical, emotional, financial or mental) and apathy towards these minorities.
Technology and increased access to knowledge has without doubt improved our lives and will continue to make living better. This may have been posted already, but doing so again since it's relevant:
not gonna argue that technology has made our lives more convenient and a little easier, but the more knowledge we acquire the more the gaps in our knowledge expand as a result, it's not some linear straight-shot to a better future like most here tend to imagine but a constant series of bumbling steps and falling down in our pursuit of "knowledge.".
R.I.P Ziba.
