100 years ago many people -in the US- had 10 kids in hopes that 2 or 3 would survive. Earth was far from habitable up until then. Most of us -in the US- live far better than a king did two centuries ago. (One example: look into the history of royal toilets.)

Good article for reminding us that life has never (until lately) been a (relative) bowl of cherries. He missed one thing: we're our own worst enemies. E.g., we nearly killed ourselves off not too far back (nuclear war).