Some years ago, an engineer gave a talk at the French National Assembly to a workgroup debating on sustainable energy. His point was that, by comparing the aver

Some years ago, an engineer gave a talk at the French National Assembly to a workgroup debating on sustainable energy. His point was that, by comparing the average yearly energy consumption of an occidental 1st-world person to the mechanical energy production of an average human being, each occidental would need about 200 slaves to maintain the same lifestyle. This is obviously not an qualitative equivalence but it helps put our way of life in perspective.