The last few hundred years have seen more growth in wealth and human basic living standards than the entirety of human history. While not mutually exclusive, this is, in part, thanks to a level of economic growth and technological innovation never before thought possible.

Most human existence has been described as "'nasty, brutish and short," with growth and improvement in living standards relatively flat for long periods of time. That all changed about 200 years ago, thanks to the Industrial Revolution and everything that followed.