People often point to the terrible things in the world as evidence we're living in "the worst timeline". What examples are there of things that suggest our timeline is actually better than it seems?
Everyone replying seems to be confusing "timeline" with "generation" or "era", discussing how this point in time is better than other times in history. That is not what OP was asking.
That's true but I think irrelevant. People are posting examples of things that used to be bad and have improved. If you want your science fiction framing, just consider the timeline where those things didn't improve, and you have your answer.
Because so many of us didn't interpret the question properly at first, maybe the question could have been written more clearly, and it wasn't and that's okay, but I hope people looking for answers would be willing to do a little bit of logical reasoning.