When and where was the best time to be alive? No "le wrong

Just after the American industrial revolution -- life was comfortable but technology had not destroyed nature and society. Literally everyone I know now argued about the new iPhone not having a headphone jack like it's the highlight of the year. That caused me to dissociate from reality.

Today. This is the age of biopolitics. Life and reproduction are glorified like never before. Giving new meaning to what Aristotle once called the Bios Politikos. Modern man takes a morbid and demented pleasure in his "species-being", like the tame and domesticated animal he has turned out to be. No longer animal rationale, more like animal laborans and animal socialis.

Music is closer to literature than fashion. It's just that, unlike literature, the medium gets more recognition for the worst stuff to come out of it. At its best the two mediums are matched.

>>8646415
The best time to be alive hasn't occurred yet.

>>8646427
yeah being a slave was sweet
>>8646415
probably some hunter gatherer society

There's a couple different things you could argue.

Obviously a booming economy seems like a good quality. Then again booms in science and technology would attract some. But, and although you say it's trivial, culture is still somethign that is very important to many people.

>>8646415
Either 100 years from now or 200 years from now assuming we haven't gone extinct by then and there wasn't a nuclear war or anything.

Every answer other than now is wrong, imo

You have access to knowledge of all of history in music, literature, and every other artistic medium

Technology has made it extremely convenient to access and made things convenient

The trade-off: Dissociation from others who get distracted with useless things by consuming bullshit media instead of anything worth discussing over

>>8646415
>state thoughtful reasons
>not trivial stuff like music and fashion.

Serious question: what are you doing on this board if you see art as trivial? Go back to /sci/

>>8646664
Those things are great but are mostly used as medicine for my chronic depression (and I wonder if I would have been so depressed in a different society).

I feel as if the period between 1848. and 1923., sans the Great War, was the best possible.
This is a completly subjective opinion, you may disagree.
The awakening of nations, the rise of new ideology, living the same century with people like 'spookster-guy', Marx, Kierkegaard, but also the development of photography.
Then, in my region, the annexation of Bosnia meant indrustalization, and a workplace, and in Serbia it meant modernazation. Beside this, it is also the time of insurgency of poetry, writing etc. in these regions. There still is the problem of war, but if I survive the Balkan wars, I'd probably not survive the Great War.

I feel as if, being a bohemian Serb poet in a comfy classically styled oriental town with western influence is the life one needs to aspire.
Until tubercolosis kills me, of course.

>>8646684

First day on the internet? I said that because I didn't want idiots spouting "I love the 80s, metal and hair wooo! xD". You have access to the same fucking music that was available in the past so it's not a valid reason.

>>8646715
>I feel as if the period between 1848. and 192


Personally I prefer the short period after the Vienna Concert. It was comfy as fuck before the nationalists/liberal/socialist tensions rose up again.

After 1848 was probably way more interesting though.

>>8646726
Still, these are social things that have an impact on culture, so having access to 1700s clothes doesn't mean much when you can't reasonably wear it.

>>8646664

The job market was much better in the 1990's, which is the correct answer.

Post-WWII was great. Europe was too wrecked to compete, China, Brazil and India too primitive. It was never better to be an American, and probably won't be again in our lifetimes.

Anyway, polite sage. Thanks for not posting some mindless pol9k babble.

>>8646731
yeah, just thinking about life in Hannover or some city-state makes me fuzzy.

>>8646726
reddit plant, please leave.

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>>8646726
>recorded music

here and now is the best time and place to be alive

>>8646643
>booming economy seems like a good quality
One of the most prominent falsehoods of modern times, the great lie. Big number signifying the growth of economy don't mean jack shit in terms of actual human happiness and life quality.

>>8646415
Any time before the pill and the internet was invented.

>>8646781
>being unemployed poorfag doesn't negatively impact your life in any way

>>8646726
Recorded music killed its magic and mystique. Music has become like popcorn to me

Probably sometime in the future, once we figure out how to upload ourselves into a utopian digital society and live in eternal bliss.

>>8646415
>Taxi Drivers Feels

>>8646448
No, Anon. Biopolitics is smoke bans and adding fibers in pommes frites.

pre-agriculture

>>8646415
Wherever and whenever events from my diary happened desu.

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>>8646781
>muh happiness
>muh disregard for money
Gee, wonder who could be behind this post...

>>8646664
yeah lifes great cant get a job i'll never own my own home, girls wont fuck me since im being filtered like cattle through "dating" apps but I have a shiny new phone that I can use wikipedia on wow what a time to be alive

Best times to be alive

1. Non-existence, true, total and complete freedom from all biological and game involvements

3. Hunter Gatherer Nomadic Alpha

2. Post-War America as a White Male, preferably old money WASP

>POWER GAP

4. Gen X
5. Gen Y (millenials)

>>8646415
this one is the best generation in the CIVILIZED WORLD can learn anything through the internet, can get most music, books, movies for free, a lot of diseases that used to be lethal are kept at bay, no major wars at home, god is dead

>>8646715
This essentially. The last great age of literature.

>>8646415
i'd be a pharoah

>>8646664
You can't tell a little girl you love her without going to jail so I have to disagree.

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>>8646715
>tfw you will never be born in rich 19th century family in central/western europe
>tfw you will never go to a prestigious university and study theology/philosophy, etc
>tfw you will never spend your days writing while living on your parents massive and comfy estate
Why live, desu?

>>8647171
>i'd be a pharoah's slave.
There you go.

>>8646415
>When and where was the best time to be alive?
For who? Assuming this is a veil of ignorance type deal, the correct answer is right now. Unless the future's an option, in which case you could take a punt and go waaaaay into the future.

>>8646745

I could probably get behind the 90's being just as great. Reason I chose now, however, was because it baffles me how easy it is to consume information in the 2010's. As a music enthusiast, for example, spotify is great. Just think about how much harder it was to consume media in another time period

1950's as a white male, or even a white person in general was probably the best shit ever. Still, I really disliked the need to conform from that time period.

>>8646696
I can understand the reasoning behind that sentiment. Depression sucks. However, to counter, I would say that mental health help and ways to cope with depression has probably never been better. In other times, people if they were depressed, generally just drank themselves to death, or something.

>>8647055
I can understand the job and home situation. However, it generally just depends on how resourceful you are, and what major you decide to be in. Being frugal takes you quite far, and more so if you're financially clever. Not claiming that I am.

As far as the girls go, grow a spine.

>complaining about dating apps

seriously?
1) Unless you're in the top in terms of looks, pretty much everyone average and below is bound to think they are ugly as hell. People judge much harsher online than in person. All you need to talk to someone is semi-decent conversational skills.
2) Grow a spine and actually go talk to women at a bar if you're so desperate for fucking. It'd be at least respectable if you were disillusioned with finding an emotional connection with someone and had some weird romanticized disconnection and disassociation from people, but instead, just sex? Wew lad. Sex is just sex. Won't actually make you happy.

>>8646453
>the hunger games
>divergent series
>harry potter
>twilight
>john green shit

so exactly like literature.

>>8646816
popcorn is pretty good. i could eat kettle corn for the rest of my life.

>>8646815
one can be poor in a strong economy and rich in a shit economy.

>>8647365

I'd say not to the same extent, though.

>>8647345
>I can understand the reasoning behind that sentiment. Depression sucks. However, to counter, I would say that mental health help and ways to cope with depression has probably never been better. In other times, people if they were depressed, generally just drank themselves to death, or something.

That's a good point. I'm finally seeing a psychiatrist pretty soon so we'll see how much that actually helps.

And I suppose it's hard to know if people were actually significantly less depressed in the past.

>>8647374
yes but there's still a correlation

>>8647493
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtfBl79hs-M

I think I'd like to be rich in the Victorian era.

If I had to be poor, then either now or some time prior to the industrial revolution.

>>8646739
That's a solid point

>>8647055
>can't get a job
yes you can, you're just lazy or a picky faggot
>girls won't fuck you
you're probably an effeminate teenager who spends all his time bitching on the internet

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>>8647698
>yes you can, you're just lazy or a picky faggot

>>8647066
A nonsense post really, a rich white man now would be far better off now because his kids won't have the risk of dying of polio or other curable diseases.

>>8647493
>And I suppose it's hard to know if people were actually significantly less depressed in the past.
>>8647517
In 3rd world countries doctors will often ask you about your family contact and situation when you complain about pains because people there aren't as aware of their feelings such as loneliness.
Naturally they test to see if its a biological problem if that doesn't cure it, it's a 1st world thing to be worried about your feelings/dreams/how you stack up to others.

A few main issues:
1)TV/net lets you know that someone is always better than you at everything, is always more important. This does shit to your self-esteem on a subconscious level so people think they aren't good enough if they don't look picture perfect.

2)poor problem solving skills. There's a online mental health listener site called 7cups and the solution to mostly any problem is 'have you considered another option?' This is because it's inherent psychologically to replay old mistakes to try to predict future ones, which leads to-

3)replaying old memories, thinking the future is going to turn out the same as the past even in vastly different situations.

This is why like 80% of 'depression' gets cured by just some basic CBT or 'interrupting the patterns of thoughts, behaviors, and actions' that make you a shit.

Personally, I'd like to like in the future where we can read minds so we can find out exactly how full of shit everyone is, they are very primitive now but they do exist.

>>8646448
How is "life and reproduction" glorified any more than it was in the rest of American history?

>>8646415
Now is the best time but people get confused because they compare their life now to being rich in the past and being rich is always best. But now is the best time to be rich as well as the best time to be poor.

I would say now, although it doesn't always show.

You can now travel further and more frequently then even Royalty could hundreds of years ago.
Almost instant acces to information, and in some cases instant (music, movies, history). Add to that the possibility to verify with sources and second opinion.
Crowd sourced knowledge. The answer for most day to day questions can be found in five minutes, because it's very likely that someone already went through this problem.
Healthcare,duh.
It's easy to keep in touch with everyone you have ever met, if you want. You can be a part of their lives forever.
There are lot of time-saving, cost-saving and energy saving opportunities out there. More time left for the rest.

Once you realize that you don't have to be a part of any narrative (another great upside to living in the now), this century is pretty good. Also live in the West.

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>>8647721

>>8647190
this made me quite sad anon

>>8647896
>you don't have to be a part of any narrative
you do for certain jobs
Engies won't tolerate SJW bullshit, writers/arty types want you to be ethnic and talking about your deep and interesting cultural background, you don't have to do it you're correct but that's just ignoring the culture.
Sure, all those things are great, but they can lead to bad shit as well.
Especially healthcare. It's very easy to die in a hospital from just the treatment alone and a lot of people just view doctors as mystic beings that can solve everything. It's like that in every industry now, so much complexity to everything that you're constantly in a buzz of information, what to do's, what you can't do, and complex social rules.
It's daunting. It's why I stay away from the city, shit gets complex really fast there.
As for being in touch with people, that's even worse. You hated someone, you could just move. Now, they can contact you instantly forever from anywhere on the planet.

I'm not saying you're wrong about the positive, just remember that other posters have a point when they hate the modern world.
I'm sure the minute they hit 1800s france and realized people were just taking dumps in corners of the Versailles and everyone smelled like they dunked themselves in parfume they would regret that time travel.

>>8646415
Late 90s. World felt safe and secure. Easy jobs, generation x was the last one that could sort of read, there weren't any normies on the internet yet and message boards reigned supreme.

The late 90s was the peak of western civilization, it's all downhill now.

>>8646415
Switzerland, 1919-2001 (before 9/11).

Based Switzerland, I'm going to try to move there for my PhD in history.

>8647896
>It's easy to keep in touch with everyone you have ever met, if you want. You can be a part of their lives forever.
This scaries the shit out of me

19th century Europe

>>8646415
Before God died, tbqh.

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Pre-Westernized Japan:

>Overwhelmingly stable society thanks to Confucian ideals
>No such thing as an existential crisis because my place in the world is pre-determined
>World's comfiest aesthetic is present in even the smallest details of my life
>Lifetime to ponder over Eastern philosophy/poetry
>Either find a wife who is loyal to the death, or enjoy fugging geisha every night

>>8648792
>could fuck feminine Asian boipucci

>>8647907
>if prisons aren't kidnapping ...

>>8648792

>""""Eastern philosophy""""

Wow, it's fucking nothing.

>>8648803
Neo-Confucianism is a whole other ballgame than earlier Eastern philosophy.

What other time in history could you engage in the great pleasure of shitposting on 4chan?

>>8646415
Victorian England if you were an aristocrat


>>8648792
>Overwhelmingly stable society thanks to Confucian ideals

Confucianism didn't create overwhelmingly stable societies. It created periods of great peace and prosperity that catalysed Malthusianism. See the list of anthropological disasters by population; China occupies almost all of the highest, because of direct consequences of Confucianism. Even though India's population historically was also substantial, and even though it was less developed than China in many regards, it's never had a massive spilling out like the collapse of the Tang Dynsaty, the Taiping or Boxer rebellions that caused so many deaths. Confucianism is like Stalinism before Stalinism but it has its ups I guess

>>8648803
You don't read any philosophy aside from the cursory disclosures you get from /lit/ shitposts, but you still like to make assumptions because of your own insecurities, so kys

>>8648843

I'd take long periods of peace with occasional, huge uprisings over constant unrest desu.

Confucianism is like capitalism - works fine for a long time, then you get shit like the 2008 housing bubble crisis. Socialism/etc result, conversely, in an extended period of stagnant shit.

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>>8648843

>You don't read any philosophy aside from the cursory disclosures you get from /lit/ shitposts, but you still like to make assumptions because of your own insecurities, so kys

I read plenty. Eastern """"philosophy"""" is the metaphorical/philosophical equivalent walking right up to a door, only to stop and stand awe-struck at the possibility of what might lie upon the other side - as opposed to Western philosophy which actually fucking knocks or else just walks on in.

>>8648851
How do you get that from Zhu Xi?

I've suprised no one has said bohemian Paris

Like 1920-1935

>>8648843
>China occupies almost all of the highest, because of direct consequences of Confucianism
Eh? Which specifically Confucian teachings produced demographic crises in China?

>>8648862
Maybe they're avoiding it because Woody Allen made a bad film about that specific form of nostalgia.

>>8648862

Eh, a bit overrated. It was only 'bohemian' because it as so cheap, and it mostly consisted of STIs and absinthe. Plus you'd have to piss off quickly to avoid Nazi occupation.

>>8648862
Me too, seems pretty cool

>>8648868
I can't explain this without autistically producing a puddle of words that eventually become irrelevant to the topic

However:

China created the world's first multilevel bureaucracy in the Han dynasty, i.e imposing a uniform set of laws on a massive (several millions) population as well as paving the first meritocratic social system. Confucian ideals allowed these systems to breath for longer than they could have in other parts of the world. This paved way for urbanisation avant la lettre, and thus when shit collapsed in China, as opposed to India or Europe, everyone fucking died because there were heaps of people in cities or otherwise places that relied on complex systems instead of the farm nearby


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_and_anthropogenic_disasters_by_death_toll

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_of_Heaven

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19th-20th century Europe desu.

I say this as an American as well, I would hate to be here during that time and be holed up on the east coast.

This is all for cultural reasons naturally, high points of literature, philosophy, architecture, music, lots of good stuff to find everywhere.

>>8648898
The 19th-20th century was 200 fucking years

That's a long time

'Europe' is a pretty big fucking place

Being in Granada would be vastly different from being in Vienna, or Novgorod or Tirana

Being in 1800 would be very different from being in 1995

>I say this as an American

Of course you do

>>8647721

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE9QSuSxIMY

There is nothing stopping you from fucking tons of girls.

>>8648950
>fucking
that's not the part i was responding to you illiterate

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>>8647049
Gee, wonder who could be behind this post....

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>>8646415
Between Bladerunner and Bladerunner 2: Do Androids do the Electric Boogaloo?

At the moment we sort of have a roadmap towards robot butlers, slaves and pets, VR dream machines, flying cars, bright neon lights and flashy advertising... with a backdrop of post nuclear war with everyone being sterile but also nice to animals. When 2 comes out that will all be destroyed.

Texas circa 1865 to about 1880
Or ancient Egypt

>>8646415
Middle Paleolithic, from what we know society was perfectly egalitarian and humans had on average a lot of free time.
Society has only become better technologically, more technology doesn't make us happier unless it appears in our lifetime and we have economic access to it.

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Right now because I'm a nihilist.

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>>8649557
>not being a hegelian anti-nihilist
excuse me.

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>>8646415
What do you think is going to happen to humanity when robotics are capable of handling every job we pay humans for? 100% of people occupy their life with their job and do other stuff in between, but once there is no means for labor since it'll all be done by robotics I wonder what will happen. My guess is we'll fall back on art and everyone will have the time and energy to devote to creating something themselves. We're already seeing this happen as a lot if jobs which were available to people in the past 50 even 10 years can now be done by machines which you dont have to pay or worry about. Tell me what you guys think.

>>8649677
Dubs of truth.

>>8649715
I hope thats what happens, but without work I'm not sure what art would be opposed to

right now, here

>>8649715
>What do you think is going to happen to humanity when robotics are capable of handling every job we pay humans for?
It's not a matter of when they'll be capable it's a matter of when they'll be capable and cheaper. And any job that requires social understanding is far off.
>My guess is we'll fall back on art and everyone will have the time and energy to devote to creating something themselves.
Only in some kind of socialism. We're not gonna get socialism.

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>>8649715

The idea that without labour, people will 'cultivate' themselves, is delusional at best.

We can already catch a glimpse of the future even now. In many if not most sectors, modern man works far less than his predecessors. Far from cultivating himself, he spends his free time either stupefying himself with drugs/alcohol/etc, or else wasting countless hours on fruitless entertainment (TV/Gaming/etc).

The one lesson that modernity is teaching, is that the more time the common man has, the less he knows what to do with it.

Exceptions are found in higher men - the geniuses. Our ancestors knew this, which is why they rightly placated the common man by indenturing him in a life of toil - with rare exceptions during festive seasons/etc to make it bearable.

>>8649715

It's either art or STEM. STEM will become more attractive once people have the time to study it. A lot of people drop out because of the workload.

I frequently think about how many times I've had strep throat and how I probably wouldn't have survived it if I were born 100 years ago

>>8649677
>hegelian anti-nihilist

what the fuck does that even mean?

>>8649772

This. I hate to be 'that guy', but Idiocracy was a painfully accurate movie.

>>8646415
Despite the objective of your prompt, 40s and 50s fashion is by far superior to any other era. Though, my cousin argues that Victorian era clothing is objectively the best time for female fashion.
For the case of music, however, you cannot prove that the 70s and 80s, perhaps even the early 90s, wasn't the best time for America. You just cannot.

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>>8649867

Right now

>>8647345
>As far as the girls go, grow a spine.
Why is it that every time having problem with women pops up the answer is always "man up boi"? Like, do you think this shit ain't just as serious? Because yeah, you can get a job and a house but what's the goddamn point if you're going to live completely alone and family less? And even if you do get with someone, what's the chance you'll actually get past 40 together?

And why don't women take the initiative on something for once in the history of EVERYTHING? Why do men have to go get told their genes aren't worth passing until they don't feel the insult? Oh but it's just sex, right? Then why don't women fuck whoever? Oh but they shouldn't lower their standards... that's something men should do.

What about women grow a spine themselves and go get what they want instead of waiting for the perfect man to fall onto their laps? Why don't they try to be proactive instead of displaying themselves like pieces of meat?

Nah, forget it. Just go have a couple shit relationships till you can leave any girl that comes your way without minding at all. Because that's what women need.

>>8647190
>you will never have a jc gf

>>8650028
How about you argue otherwise instead of memeing?

>>8650049

Apologies at misunderstanding your point, but you(or the original poster) made it seem like all they wanted was sex, not anything else.

>>8649715
A lot of people don't really care but the robotic takeover has actually been going on since 2010 in quite full force. Production went up, profits went up, workforce went down.

My prediction is that NEETs are the future. There's already books about 'the 7 million' who are 'lost men' who aren't working. It's not because of lack of jobs, it's because they are unwilling to take blue collar jobs which are grueling and require some education as well.
Plumber, machinist, trucker, etc.

Basically, blue collar jobs are going to be glorified in the future. Anyone who 'works' is probably going to be high status just because of that, and will receive the greatest number of bitches available.

Tall women are really only seen as attractive since the start of the model era in the late 80s so I think I will go with being in my 20s in the 90s because the whole social media/selfie game right now feels overwhelming to me and I'd prefer to see more polaroid cameras again in my daily life.

>>8650129
Nobody wants "just sex", Anon. If that was the case then masturbation or prostitutes would do. People have this idea that men are sexually robots designed to ejaculate X number of times over Y period of time, and then with that they're content. You wanna know why /r9k/ refuses to fuck hookers despite being 20+ virgins? Because they think it's degrading, that it makes them less of a man, that it's an admition of how worthless they are. Go look at the shittiest porn you can find and look at how men are constantly praised through the intercourse, directly or indirectly. There's a reason why action flicks always end with the dude getting the girl--it's an admitance of their worth and capability as men, of them being useful and fit.

It's not just women that have emotional expectations about sex, y'know.

>>8646415
I'm not sure if this is correct desu, I only have my generation to go by, but I feel people are less well read.

Sengoku Era Japan

>>8647438
do elaborate then

>>8649864
On the one hand, nothing has value.

But on the other, everything has value.

But at the foot of it, everything has no value.

But if the shoe were on the other foot, nothing has no value.

>>8649772
>In many if not most sectors, modern man works far less than his predecessors.
[citation needed]
>>8649867
>'that guy'
*a flaming redditor

>>8646415
Before the agricultural revolution ca 10000 BC