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.
Everything ancient civilization didn’t have.
INDOOR PLUMBING
Oh yea lol, this reminds me of my mom and dad’s villages (two different villages) in PRC, where they have to go to like a shared village bathroom. And it sucks if you have to go in the middle of the night. I vaguely remember visiting and I always dislike rural areas because it feel so “boring”, unlike the city (Guangzhou) where it’s so “magnificient” (well I didn’t have the concept of “Urban” vs “Rural” when I was a kid)
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 the CDC is already communications dark and the US has withdrawn from WHO.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
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.
Vaccine, antibiotic, and the entirety of our modern healthcare.
I really appreciate that people don’t just die out of nowhere anymore.
Dental care.
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!
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.
Silicone caulk, lithium batteries, sharkbite fittings, laminate flooring, etc. I remember watching my father struggling with diy house projects and a lot of that is clearly easier now because of various advances.
Not dying of fever or diarrhea
You can die from diarrhea?!
It is one of the leading causes of infant death. About a half a million children under the age of 5 die of it every year.
Such was the world my grandparents grew up in. Before ORS became commonplace. They are in their 80s.
Oh yes, you can basically lose so much water and salts you die of dehydration, that’s why people used to die from cholera. And drinking a lot of water won’t be sufficient, as you also need to replace the salts and sugars you eject. Today in the developed world our hospitals can just give saline solutions and let the patient “wait it out”, but it has not always been an option and probably still isn’t a lot of places in the world.
Diarrhea is one of the major symptoms of dysentery.
The world just uses AC power.
I mean…that’s not that standardized. Different frequencies, voltages, and plugs. Aside from Europe trying to find a least-common-denominator plug – which isn’t quite standardization – I’m not sure what major moves have happened recent by way of standardizing AC power.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country
USB-C is a lot more globally-standardized than AC power is.
The Internet. Every single truth, creation and information that exists, has existed and will exist, all at my finger. It’s amazing.
Other than that? modern medicine. Pretty much everything was a death sentence in old medical practices.
The Internet. Every single truth, There might be an issue there.
Right about modern medicine. But just my luck. I never get sick, only problem is dental. And while all the rest of the medical world is scanners, computers, robot surgery,etc… I still get the horror drill treatment and if necessary the pliers and some violent yanking. Where’s the laser drill or a simple shot that will make the bad tooth fall out?
On top of that, dental torture is the only thing they ask a lot of money for. The rest is practically free.