> Is there reason to think that people in the past were more selfless and less economically motivated? They were certainly less consumerist and didn't have the

> Is there reason to think that people in the past were more selfless and less economically motivated? They were certainly less consumerist and didn't have the constant onslaught of advertising telling them to buy shiny new things. They were far more self reliant and able to repair things for themselves, which tends to constantly breeds it's own innovations. Lots of little tricks and custom devices tend to crop up (over engineering isn't just for programmers) yet very few will get commercialize, at best they'll be passed along to future generations but many will get lost. > 'd wager that throughout history, most great ideas and optimizations came from people who were either seeking profit or other kinds of status I'd wager most were out of necessity and/or laziness and most died out or were replaced by newer technology. Swords, scythes and shoes didn't have single inventors, they had generations of hackers tweaking them.