Problem is, I'm trying to think of an example of something that has improved, and not coming up with much. Take diet for example, the average farm animal has benefited from nutritional science, and people know how to eat better, but most of us are in worse shape than we were before the nutrition revolution, so is it better or worse?
Most things I can think of are like this, we know more about keeping houses warm in Canada, but we have more problems with air quality in our tight houses, so it's hard to say if we are ahead...