There's two ways to look at how people of the past compare to people of today: 1. They didn't have X, so obviously we don't need X now. 2. There were the ones

There's two ways to look at how people of the past compare to people of today: 1. They didn't have X, so obviously we don't need X now. 2. There were the ones who created X, so clearly they felt the absence of X was a problem to be solved. I'm inclined to believe 2 comes into play more often than 1. The present was created by those living in the past.