First, in terms of times to live this is undoubtedly the best so far. Things we take for granted today, like antibiotics and electronic communications, were unknown. Long ago I read a novel that featured a man lamenting having to watch his child die in pain from an ear infection .. good times.

Or realizing the vaunted Battle of New Orleans in the war of 1812, an American victory and catchy tune, was fought for no real purpose. People being maimed, killed, resources expended, life and commerce interrupted because the war was over before the battle started. Of course neither side knew it because communications in those days were much slower. A victory for the nation but one wonders what those 1994 men killed or wounded might have accomplished.

The idea that somehow we are less capable because most people can't light a fire without a match is silly. I will give you odds that when flint and steel came out the people rubbing sticks together looked at the flint users as unmanly. There are really good reasons matches and lighters were developed, they work, are faster, and are far less a PITA to use. There is also that matter of people being the product of their age. Davy Crockett could shoot and skin and survive in the wilderness but he would be confounded by a computer. Much less being able to turn it on he simply wouldn't understand the need to turn it on. Which isn't to say he couldn't learn. Or a modern man learn to skin a deer. Point is that people adapt to their time.

Of course modern people have a pretty big advantage. We tacitly understand a lot of concepts that would be lost to our ancestors. Even though a modern city dweller might not know how to skin a deer she would likely know that deer are meat and extracting the meat might require a knife of some sort. On the other hand what would Crockett make of a telephone or a satellite, or nuclear weapons. Understanding these devices requires concepts entirely unknown to him. In time a friendly guide could bring him up to date but your can't overestimate the culture shock.

IMO most problems today center around two main issues: population and concentration of production. In 1915 we had a bit more than 100 million people in the US. Now we are well north of 300 million. At the same time production methods have made each worker vastly more productive. Fewer people needed to produce goods and more people available means more people with little to do. Unwanted people. Expendable people. People seen as a burden. People with nothing to lose.

Hilarity ensues.