4 ms·

The notion that we live better than the kings of old is absurd. Even materially one can ask Where is my castle? where are my tracks of land? where are my ships

The notion that we live better than the kings of old is absurd. Even materially one can ask Where is my castle? where are my tracks of land? where are my ships and armies? Where is my gold and gems? Where are my servants and slaves?

gascan 8y ago
Here is your tea, sugar, salt, and spices each for a pittance. Here are your 600 thread count sheets, your satin for a song, your comfortable house that heats & cools itself. Your telephone and computer, which do the work of an army of couriers & mathematicians. Your Netflix subscription, which can keep you endlessly entertained. And, if you want ships and armies, you can always join the military and pursue a command. Remember, many kings of old were not just politicians with military powers bestowed on a purple cushion, they were war figures who rose to the top of the bloodshed. Think Andrew Jackson, Washington, Grant.
- petermcneeley 8y ago
  Perhaps my tastes are too low but for food there is nothing better than cooked meat of which the kings had in abundance. Netflix is a (virtual) substitution for real drama, real romance , and real violence. If your gonna count the netflix you might as well just say The Matrix is material utopia.
  - gascan 8y ago
    OK, but you can eat fresh corn-fed beef, grass-fed beef, chicken, bison, venison, kangaroo, turkey, tuna, salmon, halibut, duck, swordfish, pork, lamb, sheep, eel, clam, oyster, mussel, lobster, crab, ... shall I go on?
    - petermcneeley 8y ago
      I myself have a pretty basic palate but the kings did enjoy quite a variety of foods. http://www.picturebritain.com/2012/11/whatdidhenryVIIIeat.html http://www.picturebritain.com/2012/11/whatdidhenryVIIIeat.ht... Either way the point is that Materially the kings were exceedingly wealthy and if you just translate what they had to today they still remain so.

4 ms·

The notion that we live better than the kings of old is absurd. Even materially one can ask Where is my castle? where are my tracks of land? where are my ships

by petermcneeley 8y ago

gascan 8y ago
Here is your tea, sugar, salt, and spices each for a pittance. Here are your 600 thread count sheets, your satin for a song, your comfortable house that heats & cools itself. Your telephone and computer, which do the work of an army of couriers & mathematicians. Your Netflix subscription, which can keep you endlessly entertained. And, if you want ships and armies, you can always join the military and pursue a command. Remember, many kings of old were not just politicians with military powers bestowed on a purple cushion, they were war figures who rose to the top of the bloodshed. Think Andrew Jackson, Washington, Grant.
- petermcneeley 8y ago
  Perhaps my tastes are too low but for food there is nothing better than cooked meat of which the kings had in abundance. Netflix is a (virtual) substitution for real drama, real romance , and real violence. If your gonna count the netflix you might as well just say The Matrix is material utopia.
  - gascan 8y ago
    OK, but you can eat fresh corn-fed beef, grass-fed beef, chicken, bison, venison, kangaroo, turkey, tuna, salmon, halibut, duck, swordfish, pork, lamb, sheep, eel, clam, oyster, mussel, lobster, crab, ... shall I go on?
    - petermcneeley 8y ago
      I myself have a pretty basic palate but the kings did enjoy quite a variety of foods. http://www.picturebritain.com/2012/11/whatdidhenryVIIIeat.html http://www.picturebritain.com/2012/11/whatdidhenryVIIIeat.ht... Either way the point is that Materially the kings were exceedingly wealthy and if you just translate what they had to today they still remain so.