> I would not want to swap positions with the 14th century peasant and I suspect the author would not want to, either. I'm glad to have anesthesia, antibiotics

> I would not want to swap positions with the 14th century peasant and I suspect the author would not want to, either. I'm glad to have anesthesia, antibiotics, and so on, but if they lived as we do today, the Earth, seas, and air would have been choked with plastic, mercury, greenhouse gases, and so on centuries ago. We're externalizing our costs to future generations, who will have to pay to clean up our messes, or live with them. Would you prefer living in a way that leaves the Earth as clean as you found it? If so, are you? Why don't you?