3 ms·

Hiroshima and Nagasaki are way better off today than they were before World War 2 lmao They have the same issues Japan does now (birth rate, long working hours

• coldtea 3y ago
  >Hiroshima and Nagasaki are way better off today than they were before World War 2 lmao Which is neither here nor there lmao. Were they better in 1947? 1950? Were even the same people alive when they were rehabitated? I'm pretty sure Rome, the other example I mentioned, is also better off today than the 5th century AD. But the point was that "future == better" is not some guarantee. It might be much worse. Or better for some other people, after decades or generations of people have suffered in between a 'good present' and that 'good future', and then again worse, or any such combination. What you described is mere technology and conveniences accumulated, which yes, it's often just increasing, though not even this is guaranteed (many places post war or economic collapse lost a lot of their prior conveniences and technology infrastructure). But societies can be optimistic for life, happy, and dynamic in times with less, and be depressed, stressed out, or squeezed in a rat race in times with more. This can even coincide with other things getting better for this or that segment: say, X improving (say network connectivity or gay rights), while cost of living, health costs, prospects of retiring, precarity of work getting worse for a big majority ever since the 70s.