This nostalgic tendency to think that things were better in the past and that everything is devolving as we go on is a very counterproductive idea. Humanity as a species is most evolved right at this moment in our history. A corollary to that is that things are best at this exact moment and will only get better in the future. We needed a lot of time to sort society out in a way that was conducive to the scientific process, the industrial revolution, the information age through which we're currently living. We are at our best now, despite any one else's claims (self, religious people, old people, republicans, etc.)
"Better" of course is a very interesting thing to define ...
