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lol this is complete propaganda. Whether you realize it or not.

> And our standard of living is obviously far higher than at any time in the past

Human health declined beginning with the agricultural era. I mean, you don't even have any knowledge of every time in the past, yet you are so confident in claiming our lives have never been better.

> the access to more and better medicines, having at our fingertips

You do realise that the extreme majority of illnesses experienced today are caused by the modern world and lifestyles? These medicines are designed to fix problems that didn't exist previously. The most commonly sold medicine is probably heart medication or something like that. These were things people did not experience 50,000 years ago, or even 500 years ago.

> safer and longer-lasting cars

Do you realise that most people just use cars to sit in traffic for hours going to a job they hate? You consider that a sign of how great things are?

> longer life expectancy

Well it is now declining, but quality over quantity. Sitting around at 90 years old watching tv isn't something I would count as life.

> ubiquitous and free to nearly-free instantaneous communication

social media and communication over the internet is a terrible replacement for real-life communication. Social media is actually really depressing. There are even recent studies that link time on social media with depression.

These forms of communication are usually just a sign of isolation.

> refrigeration

great for ice-cream

> lower pollution

lol? Climate change?

> I can't fathom how anyone can claim that virtually any American is better off than his counterpart from any time in the past

I can't even fathom how someone who hasn't lived in any time but now can make that statement. Literally any time in human history? How was it like, I don't know, 200,000 years ago? Tell us. You will mention lower life expectancy. That is mostly due to infant mortality rates. Many people lived until they were 70. They had actual lives, not sitting at a computer typing shit all day.

Everything you say is complete propaganda of a corrupt capitalist society and you don't even realise it.

This is the reason given for why housing costs are high in the bay area, but is not really the reason why housing costs are high, at least in general. Only a small percentage of people actually want to live in shitty apartments in polluted, concrete cities. You can make a million apartments and it is not going to reduce the price of houses where most people actually want to live.

I have seen articles all over the place and comments all over this forum that suggest we all want to move into apartments in the city. I think a lot of it is propaganda by the real-estate industry as they are making ridiculous amounts of money by selling apartments. Governments also benefit as they can save money providing infrastructure.

For some people, spending most of your life in a polluted, noisy, shitty apartment is giving up more life than the commute to work. It is unfortunate that we have to make such terrible choices.