But there's also this myth, that the future "has" to be better, that the present is better than the past, than we are better than our forefathers
I think I have to agree with you yretek. Some things really do get worse with time. Sometimes there is regression, natural disasters happen, big changes are not always the best. Time is morally neutral so to speak. It doesn't turn *everything* better or worse. Being on the younger side, you are just ignorant to the things that were better most of the time.
Nor technological progression always makes things better. Some are dystopian, can be used for very bad things.
the present is always better than the past, if we look at it from the point of view of our time, if we take essentially the past time))) - we will see that at home we have a hot water tap, our shit is washed off into a hole in the floor, and we don’t have to take it outside anywhere -far from home, we have access to all (almost) information in our world; all we have to do is take a flat object out of our pocket and shout a question at it)))). we don't have to run through the forests and kill animals, we can buy food in the store. The house is warm, bright, cozy. you can insult a person abroad in a matter of seconds, and nothing will happen to you for it; if you get sick, you won’t die; if you get very sick, then doctors can prolong your life for a long time. Of course, there are also bad sides: for example, if someone insulted you on the Internet, you can’t just find and kill this person. in both worlds there is a huge difference in survival. in this world you are being treated all your life, and are depressed from what is happening, in the old world you don’t have depression because it hasn’t been invented yet)))), and you don’t get discouraged by bad news because you don’t know how to read)))) , and you rejoice at what is happening around you, because progress has not taken away the so-called wow effect from you. you are happy because you are alive. everything is relative.