Many of the world’s largest investment firms have launched new funds over the past couple of years aimed at acquiring or building single-family homes to use as rentals. This comes as no surprise considering that the increased cost of buying a home has forced many Americans into being tenants instead...
But they didn't have HVAC, electricity, health care (even shitty health care is better than bloodletting), couldn't shit indoors, had no access to affordable transportation of any kind, had very little access to education beyond "this is a sieve, get to work. There weren't clothes washing machines and dryers and dish washers. There was no radio, tv, Internet, or much in the way of entertainment at all. There weren't medications that could cure you if you were sick or treat disease.
I say this as an exceedingly privileged Westerner, but I'll happily take living in this moment compared to pretty much any time in humanity's past.