# You can live a comfortable life at any point in history. When is it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 3, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198 "2011-06-03T15:02:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/1 "2011-06-03T15:02:06Z")
Obviously, the poll choices aren’t going to cover every time period and location. Feel free to add your own. Poll to come. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/2 "2011-06-03T15:03:45Z")
Ancient Rome ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/3 "2011-06-03T15:04:53Z")
On second thought, having so many options to a poll isn’t viable. Just tell me when, where, and why. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/4 "2011-06-03T15:11:29Z")
Right now. Ample birth control, minimal pressure on me to have a child if I don’t want to, and the Internet and video games and modern technology. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/5 "2011-06-03T15:13:06Z")
I agree with **Anaamika** , I’m rather spoilt for choice now and wouldn’t want to give any of it up\*. \*Unless I could bring my gadgets and electricity sources back in time with me and blow history’s mind. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/6 "2011-06-03T15:15:00Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Right now. This is what I keep coming back to. My gut reaction was “anytime before AIDS,” then I thought “well, herpes and AIDS,” then I thought “but after the sexual revolution,” then I realized, “Vietnam,” and said, “fuck this, I’m good.” ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/7 "2011-06-03T15:16:25Z")
Yeah, now. Medicine and technology obviously are more advance now than ever, as will continue to be the case. If the question were “live comfortably \*for a year \*in any time period,” I’d probably choose the roaring '20s in the US. It just seems like it was a fun time. ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/8 "2011-06-03T15:17:28Z")
somewhere in the Northern states in America circa 1800. Stay out of the mad dog reformer / teetotaler / abolitionist meeting houses and prosper in a nation for whose growth the “limit” is literally an empty continent, plus a world of soon-to-be-discovered technological breakthroughs. Like de Toqueville said, once Commie radicals from France moved to 19th century America, all of a sudden they were all for private property and capitalism. Things were so good, that even the libtard moonbats could see the light on exposure. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/9 "2011-06-03T15:21:19Z")
I have to go with right now also. But picking any other time, I’d love to have lived during the age of sail. The romance part of me says that it was an awesome time. Reality probably doesn’t match up with that, though. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/10 "2011-06-03T15:30:10Z")
Especially as a woman, I never want to go back to any other time. It’s not perfect, but women have more rights than ever in the West, and more freedom. I do not want to be a second-class citizen. Might be different for men. Also, as I get older, proper bathroom facilities are more and more important. India, when I was fifteen, if I had to I could squat in a horrible little bathroom in semi-public, over a hole. I am 35 now and demand a toilet with washing-up facilities. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/11 "2011-06-03T15:31:08Z")
Polynesia before the Europeans came. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/12 "2011-06-03T15:40:03Z")
Being a woman, there aren’t a lot of good historical options that would allow me to be rich and comfortable without being married, and possibly miserable as a result. If I had to pick a non-now time, I’d probably be ok with being Cleopatra. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/13 "2011-06-03T15:42:14Z")
Now will do. Maybe if the offer was "you can be god-king/absolute ruler at any point in history, " I’d think differently. But since we’re only talking “a comfortable life” it’s gotta be now. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/14 "2011-06-03T15:51:47Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Might be different for men. Definitely is. I would go so far as to say that I could be happy living before the invention of agriculture. Would be very different to have been female in those times though. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/15 "2011-06-03T15:55:46Z")
Minoan Crete. Pre-patriarchy. Or some time in the hopefully near future, post-patriarchy. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/16 "2011-06-03T16:02:37Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Definitely is. I would go so far as to say that I could be happy living before the invention of agriculture. Would be very different to have been female in those times though. Except chances are women would die in child birth. Honestly, now’s pretty good. I’m a man, but I’m also black and life hasn’t exactly been peachy for them. If I had to choose somewhere it’d probably be pre-Columbian America, just to see how the continent was before it is now. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/17 "2011-06-03T16:05:12Z")
> [@code\_grey](#): > > somewhere in the Northern states in America circa 1800. Stay out of the mad dog reformer / teetotaler / abolitionist meeting houses and prosper in a nation for whose growth the “limit” is literally an empty continent, plus a world of soon-to-be-discovered technological breakthroughs. > . Smoking and “chaw” everywhere. Racism common. Food in the cities is crap. I’d take Rome during the late Republic, early Empire. Perhaps 1930-40’s America, even tho again, smoking was super-common. I did like my life in pre-AIDS Hollywood. wowser. ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/18 "2011-06-03T16:23:16Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Smoking and “chaw” everywhere. Racism common. Food in the cities is crap. well, it’s not heaven, it’s just the closest you can get to it here on earth. If you don’t like racism, move to where there are no blacks around. Occasional whiff of tobacco smoke is no big deal if you don’t hang out in bars for a long time. Not sure about the food bit, maybe salted meat is less cool than frozen meat? Looks like a business opportunity for an inventor of spam meat 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/19 "2011-06-03T16:33:34Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Might be different for men. I’m sure it was, but I’m not sure I’d want to live in a time when women were oppressed. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198/20 "2011-06-03T16:36:08Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Definitely is. I would go so far as to say that I could be happy living before the invention of agriculture. Would be very different to have been female in those times though. Technically, that’s \*pre-\*history, and thus excluded from the OP. ;)🆒 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-live-a-comfortable-life-at-any-point-in-history-when-is-it/584198.md?page=2)