People remember their childhood world too fondly.

You adapt to it. You forget the parts that sucked, many of which sucked rather really badly. It resonates with you and sticks with you. You think it was better.

This is famously true for music, but also in general, including places it makes no sense like ‘most reliable news reporting.’

Matthew Yglesias: Regardless of how old they are, people tend to think that things were better when they were young.

As a result, you’d expect more negativity as the median age goes up and up.

Very obviously these views are not objective.

As a fun and also useful exercise, as part of the affordability sequence, now that we’ve looked at claims of modern impoverishment and asked when things were cheaper, it's time to ask ourselves: When were various things really at their best?

In some aspects, yes, the past was better, and those aspects are an important part of the picture. But in many others today is the day and people are wrong about this.

I’ll start with the things on the above graph, in order, include some claims from another source, and [...]

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Outline:

(01:38) The Most Close-Knit Communities

(03:02) The Most Moral Society

(04:57) The Least Political Division

(05:31) The Happiest Families

(06:31) The Most Reliable News Reporting

(08:03) The Best Music

(10:07) The Best Radio

(11:13) The Best Fashion

(11:32) The Best Economy

(12:03) The Best Movies

(13:23) The Best Television

(15:00) Best Sporting Events

(17:11) The Best Cuisine

(18:10) Bonus: The Best Job Security

(18:53) The Best Everything

(22:15) The Best Information Sources, Electronics, Medical Care, Dental Care, Medical (and Non-Medical) Drugs, Medical Devices, Home Security Systems, Telephone Services and Mobile Phones, Communication, and Delivery Services of All Kinds

(22:51) The Best Air Travel

(23:33) The Best Cars

(23:59) The Best Roads, Traffic and Infrastructure

(24:53) The Best Transportation

(25:28) It's Getting Better All The Time

(28:41) We Should Be Doing Far Better On All This

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First published:
December 19th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/K3rzQJh3RhaDkREMA/when-were-things-the-best

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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“When Were Things The Best?” by Zvi

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“When Were Things The Best?” by Zvi