My standard of living is far greater than that of a king in medieval times.

  • You had limited access to tasty food and now it's everywhere.

  • For entertainment you had a jester jumping around who probably couldn't hold most of our attention for more than a couple minutes and now we can stream movies,TV's shows, and videos from anywhere in the world at an abundance we wouldn't even have time to consume.

  • Sure you had music, sometimes, but it required a live band and they might be mostly shit. Now we have spotify where we can play any genre of music from any musician.

  • access to books and knowledge was pretty limited and lots of questions went unanswered, now everyone has access to the biggest library in existence (the Internet).

  • It was difficult to travel to see things even under 100 miles away, now you can get on a plane and go anywhere in the world cheaply.

  • Ships were simple and dangerous to be on, now even lower middle class can afford to sail on massive cruise ships with beer, food, entertainment etc.

  • When it rained roofs might leak, when it was cold it was cold, when it was hot it was hot. Now we move from one climate controlled building or car to the next climate controlled building or car. Temperatures are far more comfortable.

  • Just simple things like a headache or a toothache could inflict a great deal of pain, now we have modern medicine and dentistry.

  • You had to send letters to people over great distances and it was very difficult to keep in touch with people who were away, now you can facetime or skype them in real time.

  • People's fates used to be determined by the profession of your parents. Now people can do what ever it is they want to do when they grow up and are no longer required to just copy their parents professions, incomes, or social status. Never in history has there been so much social/class mobility. Anyone anywhere can be a scientist, athlete, soldier, politician, artist, scholar, or doctor regardless of their families professions and income.

/r/Showerthoughts Thread Parent