>On the other hand, suppose you threatened to take me back in time
>and have me born not in 1960 but in 1860. I would pay everything I
>have to avoid it, for I would be dead of pneumonia at the age of 5...
>
>And I, at least, cannot think of anyone in 1900 whom I would regard
>as being as well-off in a material-welfare sense as I am today...
True, but there's no such thing as time travel, and I'm pretty sure there never will be.
Let's turn that around: do you feel sad that people will probably be materially richer in ways we can't even imagine - leaving aside the possiblities of ecological catastrophe or nuclear war - in 2100?
Doug