It feels like it's implying that humans today are fundamentally different from humans in the past. In fact it feels dangerous to me that we often speak of ourselves as almost a different species from humans in history. From an evolutionary perspective humans from any moment in recorded history are basically indistinguishable. Our brain capacity hasn't changed. We're not kinder. We're not less selfish.

When people say this (myself included), I think it's a normative statement, not a positive one. Of course we're the same humans we have been for thousands of years. But the act of calling out our failings as a society can itself, sometimes, spur people to try to change it for the better.

In 2023, we are (positively) essentially the same as our ancestors. But also in 2023, we should (normatively) strive to be better than them, and to be conscious of our failings when we don't.