People overstate things and pretend the past was better when it actually wasn't.
If we were objectively studying say dinosaurs, we would look at the point where dinosaurs had the largest population as a peak in their existence (or any species), so why does that logic hold to everyone but humans?
There's fewer people in poverty today. There were a billion more people living on less than $2.15 in 1990.
Society has progressed a lot on social issues, no where close to perfect but I fail to see what point in the past was much better. While there's still stupid people everywhere, generally speaking a lot of people are more enlightened than say their parents and especially grandparents on a host of issues and that will continue.
The future will bring a host of good stuff people are understating. A big one will probably be a mitigation of the aging process which is horrible and no one can escape now (barring an early death). Maybe we will make actual progress against various cancers as time goes on. Technology will get better.
Yes will have the challenge of likely a warmer globe, but past generations had larger challenges (literal nuclear war being imminent in the 1960s which is now 60+ years ago). There will always be challenges, there is no such thing as life without struggle.
