I understand where the author's coming from and do think I might have been a more optimistic person if I'd been an adult in the 90s, compared to today. I sympat

I understand where the author's coming from and do think I might have been a more optimistic person if I'd been an adult in the 90s, compared to today. I sympathize with a lot of the points, especially around how much seemed possible at the start of the millennium. The empire-building of the 2000s, embarrassment of the late 2010s, and seeing how the COVID crisis was handled were all pretty tough pills to swallow. However, I'd never trade my life in the 2020s US for a life in the 90s US. I don't his perspective is "objective." A couple reasons come to mind: 1. Civil rights and social acceptance for gay people like me were objectively worse. Sodomy was still a crime in places like Texas, and social acceptance was fairly low too. Have a look at some of these polls; at the turn of the century, ~60% opposed marriage: https://news.gallup.com/poll/1651/gay-lesbian-rights.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/1651/gay-lesbian-rights.aspx 2. Life expectancy was ~7 years worse, even accounting for the recent COVID dips. 3. I could be dropped from my health insurance for a pre-existing condition in the 90s. 4. Medicine's gotten a lot better, and I think there's reason to be further optimistic about it improving in the future if we can solve the distribution / cost problem. 5. I feel like it's so much easier to connect over great distances today than it ever has been. This opens up vast social and work opportunities. I'd likely have to change careers or cities if we regressed to the 90s, neither of which seem particularly appealing.