Why is this a terrible time compared to others? While the third world is still not a good life compared to our past it could be a lot worse. While famines are still a problem they are not nearly as prevalent as in the past. Although people living in the third world don’t get good medical care it’s still better than what most people had available 1500 years ago. All we’ve done is exchange one set of problems for another, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that when looking at history this is a more terrible time than any other.