Are we better off now than 200 years ago

17 Comments

It's 2015, we have electric cars, handheld computers, readily available food year around, able to travel worldwide in the matter of a few days, commercial space programs, upwards of 8 BILLION people on the planet today. But..., are we better off now than we were pre industrial revolution? Does this modern life really make us happier/more satisfied overall? My opinion is no; but I would like to hear your opinions as well.

-robotdaydream

we are better off now overall 24
we were better off back in the days 6
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Comments ( 17 )
  • stopandthink
    9 years ago

    And 200 years into the future we're all fat sitting on floating sofas and marrying robots :(

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    • anti-hero
      9 years ago

      Wait, this is sad?

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      • charli.m
        9 years ago

        This isn't the present????

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      • stopandthink
        9 years ago

        Why wouldn't it be?? It'd be horrible!

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    • Ace09
      9 years ago

      :'(

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  • xCol
    9 years ago

    I think the more people get the more they want and some are unhappy because of this. However, the quality of life got better, people live longer, there are a lot of new medicine to cure the sick, and so on... Plus the cool gadgets, phones, internet...
    The down side is that people are getting stupid and manipulated by television and the media in general. Like seriously, some people can't even speak their mother-tongue correctly??? And let's not talk about global warming, the lack of drinking water in some places, and the moral crisis (see: Miley Cyrus), etc.

    I'm not an expert in history, but people seemed much more normal and down-to-earth 200 years ago. I think this question is rather subjective though, like you get to choose between cool technology + moral crisis and no technology and better morals, basically.

    Personally I enjoy reading 1800's books more than Dan Brown-like brainwash CT shit. Well, you choose. We can't go back in time though, unfortunately.

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  • Dulse.
    9 years ago

    I would say quality of life is better for the moment in some places, and not so much different or worse in others. What exactly is a better life and what is a bad thing? What I think of when I think 'better' is that clean food and water are easier to come by.

    In terms of our survival in the long run it's much less certain now, which you could say makes us worse off overall.

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    • Robotdaydream
      9 years ago

      As far as our survival in the long run you mean as a species? I would certainly agree with that. Advancements in technology have rendered survival of the fittest obsolete. so individual survival rates may have increased but not overall with the increase in population. I don't think survival is really what makes life worth living though.

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      • Dulse.
        9 years ago

        Well, maybe we aren't better off in the future I mean. Things don't look good, with the environmental unbalances we've created. Our technology isn't the problem, but simply our misjudgment over the last 100 years or so. Should have said that a little differently.

        Survival isn't important to a good life I agree. Food water and shelter and a few basics are all that is really correlated with a happiness increase, so that is what I base my 'better off' judgement on.

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        • Robotdaydream
          9 years ago

          also good points. I think we could add the social aspect to things correlated with happiness. It's my personal opinion that social networking/texting has actually done more harm than good in this area. People don't really meet in person and become friends very often anymore. besides getting a new job or if you're still in school. It's so much different being with someone in person rather than reading their text. Know what I mean?

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          • Dulse.
            9 years ago

            I hear you. Technology is ingrained in many of us now. Maybe it is a step towards a large interconnected brain, where everyone is part-machine or something. The next step in our social evolution perhaps.

            Maybe we've left a lot of nice things behind as time will always have us do.

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  • Arm0se
    9 years ago

    If you want to go back, get poked by a stick, and die from some sort of weird infection that's curable today be my guest.

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    • johnho
      9 years ago

      Yes people then could die of a simple infection or a disease that can be easily cured today. Not to mention creature comforts, How long can you go without your cell phone lmao

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  • Faceless
    9 years ago

    Well, They probably knew an idea of what is was like 200 years prior too, and i can bet they were just as content.

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  • CreamPuffs
    7 years ago

    Our lives have improved in almost every way, and yet some people like you still complain... It's sad really.

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  • MissDethstar
    9 years ago

    I'm not an historian, but 200 years ago most people were very controlled by religion and had less freedom than today. As a women, I had no rights whatsoever, same goes for black people. I guess it's hard to imagine a time when I wasn't allowed to be independent and have dreams. It makes it hard for me to think it was a better way of life, even if people deemed this was normal and morally right. I enjoy technology because we can share information and knowledge ( and much stupidities ) to everyone. The down side is technology is addicting and very mind-numbing at its worst. I admit I would've liked to see a world without technology though.

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  • Robotdaydream
    9 years ago

    I always seem to notice people are unhappy everywhere. Co workers, people on here, friends, family. Just saying. I don't think it was like that before. But what can we do about it now...

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