[ajss]

Modern medicine, access to all the world's knowledge on a handheld device in your pocket, cheap clean/safe water and food from every corner of the world, entertainment (music/films/tv/youtube) cheap/safe transport over thousands of miles in a matter of hours.

There's not a chance in hell I'd want to swap places with a king of 1000 years ago.

[nkrisc]

You're just listing improvements to standards of living (that not all poor benefit from even today). Ancient kings still controlled land, armies, and food (they probably ate first in times of scarcity). They didn't have modern conveniences but they were still wealthier that today's poor. They also had power and most likely answered to no one.