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What I love about these stories is the demonstration of how absurdly rich (as a civilization) we have become. Things that in no way, shape or form are needed f

What I love about these stories is the demonstration of how absurdly rich (as a civilization) we have become. Things that in no way, shape or form are needed for bare survival account for, i don't know, 95% of our expenses? We've always been pretty profligate, but I'd say that for many centuries we did not break 50%. Does anyone have hard data?

Cw67NTN8F 9y ago
In medieval times, I think they worked all day essentially for food. But this is also due to automation, farming in US especially is basically run by a few % of the population.
deleted 9y ago
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ggg9990 9y ago
The majority of people worldwide are still eking out survival with perhaps a few indulgences that people have always had (decorative arts, celebrations, etc).
jjoonathan 9y ago
Yet somehow a large fraction of our population still has to spend a large fraction of their time struggling to secure food and shelter for themselves.
- sremani 9y ago
  Struggling for food was always the default world wide. Compare any time in human history to now, nothing comes close. I understand flipping the sanctimonious "bird" may make you feel like some kind of intellectual gangster. Humanity made progress in the right direction in spite of its many mistakes and especially Post WWII world had made mind numbing progress that is undeniable across the board.
  - jjoonathan 9y ago
    No doubt. The point is that there's work to be done -- and it's not the type of work we've collectively gotten so good at. > I understand flipping the sanctimonious "bird" may make you feel like some kind of intellectual gangster. Really? You think I primarily care about the single most severe caveat to the success of our industrial economy in order to look cool?
  - opportune 9y ago
    douchiest comment I've ever read on HN (note that at the time I made this comment, the parent had positive karma)
  - iui23owu3 9y ago
    Talk about sanctimonious. Your argument makes things sound even worse today. We're far more capable, but still playing the same game.
  - Retric 9y ago
    Hunter gathers actually tended to have very 'casual' lifestyles with easy access to food. Infectious disease was less of an issue due to low populations making them harder to transmit. Violence however was the major issue keeping populations down. Farming allowed for better defense though increased population density and critically by limiting migration limited contact with outside groups. But, historically farming involved vastly more work. However, due to are vastly longer history as hunter gathers the average person throughout history probably worked ~2-4 hours per day and had plentiful access to food.
imtringued 9y ago
Maybe you are rich personally but for the average human this has never been true. Do you know of any middle income person that owns or rents a dozen apartments? Do you even know a single person that has two?

Cw67NTN8F 9y ago

In medieval times, I think they worked all day essentially for food. But this is also due to automation, farming in US especially is basically run by a few % of the population.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

ggg9990 9y ago

The majority of people worldwide are still eking out survival with perhaps a few indulgences that people have always had (decorative arts, celebrations, etc).

jjoonathan 9y ago

Yet somehow a large fraction of our population still has to spend a large fraction of their time struggling to secure food and shelter for themselves.

sremani 9y ago
Struggling for food was always the default world wide. Compare any time in human history to now, nothing comes close. I understand flipping the sanctimonious "bird" may make you feel like some kind of intellectual gangster. Humanity made progress in the right direction in spite of its many mistakes and especially Post WWII world had made mind numbing progress that is undeniable across the board.
- jjoonathan 9y ago
  No doubt. The point is that there's work to be done -- and it's not the type of work we've collectively gotten so good at. > I understand flipping the sanctimonious "bird" may make you feel like some kind of intellectual gangster. Really? You think I primarily care about the single most severe caveat to the success of our industrial economy in order to look cool?
- opportune 9y ago
  douchiest comment I've ever read on HN (note that at the time I made this comment, the parent had positive karma)
- iui23owu3 9y ago
  Talk about sanctimonious. Your argument makes things sound even worse today. We're far more capable, but still playing the same game.
- Retric 9y ago
  Hunter gathers actually tended to have very 'casual' lifestyles with easy access to food. Infectious disease was less of an issue due to low populations making them harder to transmit. Violence however was the major issue keeping populations down. Farming allowed for better defense though increased population density and critically by limiting migration limited contact with outside groups. But, historically farming involved vastly more work. However, due to are vastly longer history as hunter gathers the average person throughout history probably worked ~2-4 hours per day and had plentiful access to food.

imtringued 9y ago

Maybe you are rich personally but for the average human this has never been true. Do you know of any middle income person that owns or rents a dozen apartments? Do you even know a single person that has two?