> Beyond the fact that we have access to all kinds of technology that did not exist 70 years ago even for the richest people on the planet

This is a standard element of conservative/libertarian gaslighting: "Do not complain about your precarity or inequality, because you HAVE COLOR TV!!! OMG, NOT EVEN KINGS OF OLD, COLOR TV!@!! FOCUS ON THE TV, IT'S COLOR!!112!!"

> It’s not really our fault: Humans have memories that are both short and bad, which leads us to forget just how bad many things used to be in even the recent past, and take for granted the improvements that have been made.

That works both ways. Bad things can become the new normal, the degradation only clearly visible at the transition, then fogotten.