I'd say that at this moment we're at the pinncale of human society and where we are is better than most other times in a historical concept. I'm not sure how far back we want to debate the issue - My main sources of knowledge reflect the Western Societies that are based roughly around the Greco-Roman influences.
Realitically I find it very hard to believe that in my life time the world will suffer through a nuclear winter. On a large scale war (Russia, China, and America) I believe the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction are far too important for us to allow that kind of devastation. Even during the Cold War the USSR tried their hardest to show how tough they were without waging a nuclear war that would basically demolish the world.
On a smaller scale I still don't believe it's a problem. Yes, there could be a nuclear war. Iran's flexing its muscles, India and Pakistan (though that seems to be a bit of a stand still at the second), and those other places could cause an a-bomb to drop. Will it lead to a massive nuclear war? Doubtful. If Iran actually does attempt a second holocaust or attempt to drop a nuke anywhere in the world I feel certain the UN would cut the crap and knock them out of power.
At this moment we've got the best health care in history, the best sanitation, the best technology, etc. So in that regards I'd say we're better.
Of course it's debatable just to say 'Average' since no time on such a broad scale can be shown as better or worse since ultimately society is always fluid. In direct comparisons between different time periods, yes, I believe that we're far superior to the past, but then if you look at the past 100 years, that's far superior to the 100 years before it, and so on and so forth.
Also, all of this is very broad based on areas, time periods, etc. It's ultimately too expansive to be a reasonable question, but on the most general sense I believe we're at the best period of history that's been attained thus far.
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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips
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