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It certainly held us back morally. But from an economic standpoint? It was a very effective way to accomplish a lot. As disgusting as it was.

• runeks 10y ago
  > But from an economic standpoint? It was a very > effective way to accomplish a lot. As disgusting as it was. As far as I can see, the only economic contribution was free labor. The presence of free labor makes the wealthy live very well while they are able to suppress resistance, but saying it somehow made us advance as a society - both in moral and physical terms - is the opposite of the truth, as far as I can see. In ancient cultures they used slaves to build pyramids. I'm sure the ruling class told themselves that this was a symbol of how advanced they were - that they could build these huge things. I just see a colossal waste of time, with the only purpose being the ruling class having something to feel important about. Stacking rocks on top of each other is no more advantageous to a society than cheap cotton, at least not when the cheap cotton can't be purchased by those who need it the most: the people who produced it.