So, I'm not in love with the modern world, as Wolf Parade put it, but here are some ways things are getting better:

• 24 Hour cafes
• Women have more rights
• Women whose husbands have abandoned them & their kids aren't socially scorned the way they used to be
• Minority rights have improved
• Phone conversations to people across the country
• Email (yeah, nostalgia is great for writing, but as far as day-to-day practicality, I love me some instant communication)
• Text messaging (you don't have to talk face to face)
• Expanding self-awareness (including awareness of irony).
• Better access to new/different music.

Speculations as to the future

• we are becoming increasingly cerebral, less physical. some of our physical elements will atrophy. this would shorten our lives, but the best of our species will use this new cerebral capacity to maintain our longevity as individuals and as a species.
  • for idiots, this will soon mean watching tv for leisure and doing data entry or quality control (detailing assembly production, ). the manual labor positions will be filled mechanically, by computers/robots/other machines (i.e. self-checkout, assembly line production).
  • for intelligent people (scientists, philosophers, writers, console game designers)
• more pollution
• less trees, less forest, less animals, less biodiversity--the world is turning into an ecological war zone; rare animals can only be found in captivity, those that can't be persuaded to breed in captivity will go extinct.
• poisoned water, all water will need to be filtered rigorously. tap water will be of no use, until it is filtered.
• poisoned oceans, ponds, rivers. only toxin-resistant (mutant and/or biologically resilient) aquatic life.
• American workers are expensive to hire - the middle class is becoming obsolete, due to robots and outsourcing
  • why? because of inflation, our quality of living, privatized services (some would say)
• Trade jobs are going overseas, where they cost less
  • welding, IT/computer science/tech jobs/programming, automobile maintenance,
• Less a republic, less democracy, more oligarchy
• Robot mechanics (someone needs to build the robots & troubleshoot them)
• Future jobs
• gene screener (like a drug screen), quarantine enforcer, drowned city specialist (and other careers specializing in
  
  disaster-management), robot mechanic, animal guardian/lawyer (to represent animal interests), theatrical holographer (holograph theatres, production, holographic jobs; too expensive to operate at home), space tour guide, hydrogen fuel station manager, market research analysts, medical roboticist, genetic counselor, respiratory therapist, bioinformatician, stem cell researcher, custom implant organ designer, organic food producer, sustainability officer, waste management consultant, nutritionist, robotics technician, nanotechnologist, simulation engineer, energy resources engineer, aerospace engineer, biorefinery plant manager, laboratory tech, transportation engineer (i.e. teleport specialist), seed production technician, food scientist, LEED certified architect, renewable energy technician, hydrologist, sustainable urban planner, geophysicist, ecotourism travel guide, wind turbine technician, cyber security specialist, media search consultant, data technologist, interface designer, distance education consultant, site acceleration engineer, computer forensics analyst, quality assurance engineer, cloud computing engineer, internet crack team volunteer, integrated media specialist (multimedia: photo, video, sound, written word to saturate audience with information or an experience), casual game developer, mobile application developer, intelligence analyst (secret agent, spy), small business owner, virtual services worker
• Forever Jobs
  • politician, prostitute, mortician, tax collector, artists (writer, singer, dancer, entertainer, painter, etc.), religious leader, criminal, parent, soldier/cop, physicians/surgeons
  • also probably: massage therapist, home health care aide, nurse, pharmacist, technical writer, dentist, inventor, corrections officer/warden, regulatory compliance officer (corporate rule enforcement police, often undercover--make the rules, change the rules, enforce the rules), welding technologist, employment recruiter/unemployment helper
• Robot jobs
  • cashier, miner, construction, fighter pilot, call center
• Jobs to be replaced
  • auto mechanics (teleports, monorails, subways), gas station attendants (teleports, monorails, subways), truck driver (dirigible pilot)