# Has the World Improved Since You Were Born? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 1, 2011, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677 "2011-12-01T05:47:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/21 "2011-12-03T03:14:36Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I was born in 1971. In South Africa. **Not White.** > > Damn skippy, it’s improved. > > Also, internet porn. Complete and absolute hijack, but I would love to have a “ask the non-white Protea about how life was under aparthied thread”. If you feel you could do it of course. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/22 "2011-12-03T03:31:46Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > But… but… but 99% of us are occupying Wall Street and other parts of the country, right? Yes, but we really need a few insincere self-aggrandizing types to come up with decent slogans, if actual goals are beyond us. One, two, three, four, we don’t want revolving doors? No, that would be anti-lobbyist. We can work on it. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/23 "2011-12-03T03:33:27Z")
Yes, liberals have vastly improved the U.S., Canada, and the world in general since 1957. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/24 "2011-12-03T03:37:41Z")
Oh yeah homosexuality and divorce were illegal here when I was born and the Catholic Church had much more power and influence. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/25 "2011-12-03T03:39:32Z")
I voted no because I hate the fucking internet. Sure, I use it a lot every day, but I bet lots of people who use cigarettes every day also wish they had never been invented. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/26 "2011-12-03T03:52:43Z")
Born in 1961, so definitely yes. Pretty much what **Prelude to Fascination** said above. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/27 "2011-12-03T03:58:23Z")
I was born in 1951. I went through “duck and cover” H-bomb drills in grade school. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, in the schoolyard we half-heartedly joked ever time a plane went over that it was the Russians coming to bomb us. The first black family that tried to move into my neighborhood in the Bronx got fire-bombed. There are plenty of problems still, but yeah, things have improved. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/28 "2011-12-03T04:06:33Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I went through “duck and cover” H-bomb drills in grade school. Even at the time, I was mildly curious as to how my school desk would protect me from an atomic bomb dropped on Norfolk or on Moffet Field. Oddly, we had no such drills at my dad’s next station in Sicily; I guess they figured we were goners. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/29 "2011-12-03T07:48:05Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Complete and absolute hijack, but I would love to have a “ask the non-white Protea about how life was under aparthied thread”. If you feel you could do it of course. I must emphasise that we really, _really_ don’t call ourselves that. Ever. That’s the cricket team, and only, ever the cricket team. Or a girl’s name. But sure, drop me a PM in a week’s time when work isn’t so hectic, and I’ll start one. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/30 "2011-12-03T08:03:36Z")
I was born in 1969. Technologically: Unfathomably so. Socially: Probably, though I’m the wrong person to ask. Politically and Economically: In some ways yes, and it was going pretty well for a while there, but right now it’s a fucked up disaster. Crime: Yes, I think things are a lot better. Different, though, so maybe it’s swings and roundabouts. > [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > As for me I wouldn’t say so currently as **I was born in 1996** !!! I feel so old. ---
**Author:** ![BowlOfDucks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BowlOfDucks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BowlOfDucks)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/31 "2011-12-03T08:19:58Z")
Undeniably. A larger percentage of people live in democracies. Life expectancy is up. In my country it’s risen around 10 years in my lifetime. Infant mortality is down. Technological advances are everywhere. Massive reduction in nuclear warheads. So much improvement. Plenty yet to do ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/32 "2011-12-03T12:24:06Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Yes, liberals have vastly improved the U.S., Canada, and the world in general since 1957. Although to be fair, improvement comes from production and markets, so the classical liberals (i.e., not political liberals) had a huge hand in there, too. And then of course major political contributions by conservatives also contribute. If you don’t have political checks and balances, you end up with “progressive” countries like Venezuela where things have massively unimproved in only a few years. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/33 "2011-12-03T14:03:38Z")
On the whole the world’s a much better place now than it was in 1971. **Even with the current economic crisis** the average person’s better off now. The Cold War was called off. More people live in freedom. Life expectancy’s up, health is up. We’re doing okay. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/34 "2011-12-03T14:06:30Z")
I think I remember everything going to shit when I was 15 as well. But that was more due to being horny and socially inept, not having a drivers license so I couldn’t get to where all the girls were being hidden, and still being three years too young to drink. But, the Six Million Dollar Man was on TV, we had finally gotten past all the Bicentennial crap, and the guy at the store didn’t care if I bought Playboy and cigarettes. So it wasn’t all bad. Things are much better now. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/35 "2011-12-03T17:32:23Z")
There are areas were it has not or gotten worse - some types of environmental degradation, the internal situation in certain corners of the Third World. But on average, yes. Absolutely. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/36 "2011-12-03T17:39:28Z")
I think that technology has greatly improved our quality of life. Medical advances have led to wonderful things. However I think that as a whole, the attitude of our country sucks and that is what I miss most. I was born in 1966, but was a teen in the '80s. I miss the '80s terribly. It seemed like such a time of optimism, people seemed very proud of the country and the music was much better 🙂 and of course we had Reagan! But I wonder if I am just looking at the past with rose colored glasses? Seems to me that every generation thinks that the time they grew up in was better than now. Maybe it is just wishful memories of my youth that color my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/37 "2011-12-03T17:40:48Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Yes, liberals have vastly improved the U.S., Canada, and the world in general since 1957. Good one Frank, you owe me a new keyboard and monitor as I spewed Diet Coke all over them when I read that! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/38 "2011-12-03T18:29:54Z")
For the most part, for the world, yes. However, I voted “other” as I am selfishly just thinking in terms of the US. As a teacher in a college, I worry about our educational system. I just feel that students today do not have the basics that are needed. There are huge gaps in knowledge even for college students, let alone those who barely squeaked out of high school. Without an educated society, I don’t see a rosy picture for politics, innovation and recovery in the US anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/39 "2011-12-03T21:06:15Z")
Oh yes the world has improved. Now there is open heart surgery, angioplasty, and clot busting drugs. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have a father. And pain meds administered by patches help keep my grandmother alert and happy. Ordinary drugs would have dulled her mind and made here groggy. I’d be an invalid because of kidney problems if it wasn’t for stone busting techniques and antibiotic that were developed after my birth. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677/40 "2011-12-03T21:16:38Z")
I was born in 1957. The suburb in which I grew up was restricted - no blacks, Jews, or Italians allowed. Yeah, things are a LOT better now than then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-improved-since-you-were-born/604677.md?page=3)