The past was hardly better. Obviously the physical aspects were horrible (no antibiotics, most children died before reaching adulthood, childbirth was frequently fatal). Genocide is now considered a crime (200 years ago it was considered “normal” policy, and frequently used in by the Europeans, among others). You might complain about morals, but until recently one could buy a female slave (use your imagination for the rest, this is a frum website). Standards of living were so low that for many Jews the price of being frum we to live near starvations (people would go off the derekh to get fed, today they go off the derekh to be comfortably middle class). The concept of “Freedom of religion” is accepted in much of the world – 300 years ago it was considered to be a form perversion.
Thus we are an unfortunate generation. Our accomplishments will be judged by what we could accomplish given the ideal conditions we live under. To we have anything that compares favorably with the rishonim and the achronim?