My answer:
All this technology: Radios, Television, Pocket computers that you can just pull knowledge from that also perfroms the functions of various other gadgets which are also made possible by modern technology. And of course, THE INTERNET!
Standardization:
USB-C is awesome! :D
The world just uses AC power.
Metric system
Countries all around the world agreeing to a certain set of rules: Such as in Aviation, the world agreed to use Aviation English and standard phraseology, emergency frequency is 121.5, 3-Letter codes that is unique to every commercial airport in the world.
Treaties:
My favorite thing is the Kyoto Protocol [Edit: Montreal Protocol, mixed that one up]. We stopped the ozone from getting fucked. Now we need to do the same with climate change… 👀
Co-operation:
I was at a traffic light and it’s just amazing how (almost) everyone just follows the lights, and not just try to run red lights. Yay! (okay i know its just called “obeying the law” but still, I find this interesting)
International Space Station… (at least until a certain country withdrew… 👀)
I love that we can now easily communicate with each other from all around the world.
Well, not some places… ahem DPRK, PRC ahem
North Sentinel Island!
I’m in the NICU right now. Mother and child would probably be dead without modern medicine. Instead everyone knew what to do and everyone made it out safe and sound.
Food.
I can make a plate of food that has 10 different elements from all over the world in about 15 minutes, costing about $10.
100 years ago people barely had reliable access to salt and pepper.
This may get you banned from Italy, but international fuckery with Lasagna is awesome: mix in some taco spices and serve with nacho chips.
Once made a dessert lasagna. Cream cheese/ricotta cheesecake with vanilla and honey for the cheese layer. Forest berry preserve for the sauce, and I crumbled walnut, pecans, and raisins for the meaty bits. Fantastic concept, but I used Lasagna noodles just like in a normal lasagna and frankly they were the weak link. Just flavorless noodles running through an otherwise excellent treat.
If I ever go back to try it again, I’ll press my own noodles with spices and a touch of honey. That will be the ticket.
Wouldn’t pumpkin be more suited than pasta? Frankly the idea of sweet pasta scares me a bit.
Probably, but that wouldn’t quite have the same effect. Though a layering of pumpkin pie and cheesecake could be an alternative to jam…
Yeah. I watch some historic food shows and they make it a point to highlight that food was generally not as fresh or plentiful as today.
100 years ago people barely had reliable access to salt and pepper.
That’s a bit of a stretch.
IDK where you live but here in Europe there are at least 500 yo recipes with spices from all over the world. And no, not exclusively for the rich. Trade routes were always important. What they had was also certainly more healthy 100 years ago than the ultra processed garbage of today.
Vaccines and antibiotics.
Fuck yeah. Even if we lost everything else back to the cotton gin, life expectancies, survival rates, and quality of life would still be dramatically better if we retained vaccines, antibiotics, and dental care (including the pain management part).
Modern medicine, as incomplete as it is, is a godsend we don’t appreciate often enough. And that includes opioids, despite the current hysteria.
Bitches will appreciate it a lot more when their kids start dying of measles n shit.
Or not. 2024 convinced me that a lot of people are irredeemably stupid.
The information superhighway as we called this thing way back when. Wikipedia, the Internet Archive, Gutenberg, free MOOCs, shadow libraries and what not are a godsend.
Safe public water systems, fluoridated
Pasteurized milk
A large public agency looking after the safety of our food supply
A large public agency with global connections to detect new diseases before they spread
Don’t worry. In the US the current administration/regime is trying to remove all that. the CDC is already communications dark and the US has withdrawn from WHO.
GPS and navigation in general. I cannot live without it.
Messaging apps. Those who’ve been in a long distance… You know, not having to use sh!t like SMS or pay stupid amounts of money for roaming is a godsend.
High refresh rate screens. Doesn’t matter what it is, every screen should be at least 90Hz. Preferably 120Hz. Especially on smartphones. 60Hz is completely unacceptable if you’re paying any more than 100~150$ for a phone.
Moto G Play 2024 is like $110 in the USA and has a 90hz HD 6.5 inch display. Apple really be scamming people lol
I got a nothing phone 2a for like 250$ new and that’s got a 120Hz amoled display… 60Hz on a 600$ phone is a joke
Free public education and healthcare are awesome, too. It really shows how much we as a society have grown and left behind the dark ages where those were for the rich only.
i don’t understand any of the words you just said.
(I’m American btw)
Modern medicine. I could live without my daily medication, but it would be life on hard mode.
I’m currently holding a rectangle of carefully organized sand and I can effortlessly argue with strangers just about anywhere in the world.
A rectangle made of carefully arranged sand, petrochemicals, crystalized aluminum, and trace elements.
Using lightning to trick Rocks into doing really complicated math
No you can’t!
That’s the spirit! Make em work for it!
Everything ancient civilization didn’t have.
Vaccine, antibiotic, and the entirety of our modern healthcare.
I really appreciate that people don’t just die out of nowhere anymore.
Dental care.
Pictures of animals. Back when I was little, we had animal books with pictures of animals but of it wasn’t in the books, you’re out of luck. Now I can look at baby goats doing all sorts of silly things! Albino opossum? Dozens of them! Squirrels in hats? Everywhere!
It’s an absolute majesty.
Honestly its just how cheap computer hardware has gotten. It might seem crazy but the fact that I can basically do everything I could ever need to do on a computer on a cheap windows laptop is nothing short of amazing.
