Things, for the most part, are just fine in my own little corner of existence. Technology is at an all time high and continues to advance into the realm of the fantastic. The economy is surging and my standard of living is limited only by my own ambition. Medicine is breaching the cure for cancer, AIDS has been stabilized, and we can prevent or cure nearly every horrible disease that, in past times, threatened to wipe out entire nations.
Life is exciting, interesting and continuing to improve on a hundred different fronts.
You can't deny it. As long as you keep your eyes on the bright and shining examples of mankind's triumphs over all our previous woes, things are definitely looking up. You would think that there would be a lesson to be learned here. I can't possibly be the only one to recognize the parallels. Each age of civilization began its climb to power and fame from relatively modest levels of technology and standards of living.