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> My point is the reduction of child labor hours was impossible before industrialization improved productivity. Farmers worked less hours and with much less in

> My point is the reduction of child labor hours was impossible before industrialization improved productivity. Farmers worked less hours and with much less intensity than industrial workers. The incredible drop in life expectancy of farmers turning industrial workers says everything.

baremetal 5y ago
I farm in the summer and write code in the winter, or during the heat of the day in the summer. Its really a great lifestyle. I highly recommend it.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  You farm these days with all the benefits of technology and mass production. You are not doing subsistence farming. Making your own soap, making your own clothes, making your own tools, chopping wood for the stove, making your own barn, etc.
  - alfiedotwtf 5y ago
    My family in the Philippines pretty much farm (rice and vegetables) for only a few months of the year, and the only technology they use is a few diesel water pumps. To be honest, they’re the happiest people I know
    - WalterBright 5y ago
      Do they make their own cloth? Weave their own clothes? Make their own soap? Make their own shoes? Saw their own planks for the buildings? Make their own nails? Eat food from elsewhere than their farm? Make their own pencils? Paper? Glass? Where did their meat come from? Chop wood and tend the woodburning stove all day? (Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate had a "nailery" where the nails were made that were needed for the buildings.) In any case, powered irrigation is a huge deal. Just imagine the backbreaking work hauling the water by hand.
      - alfiedotwtf 5y ago
        > Do they make their own... Not quiet, as they're not subsistence farming but surplus farming. Though, it's not surplus as in big business, just enough to make it through to the next the year's crop. I don't even think they have bank accounts etc.
WalterBright 5y ago
As I remarked, the surge in population without the food says everything.

baremetal 5y ago

I farm in the summer and write code in the winter, or during the heat of the day in the summer. Its really a great lifestyle. I highly recommend it.

WalterBright 5y ago
You farm these days with all the benefits of technology and mass production. You are not doing subsistence farming. Making your own soap, making your own clothes, making your own tools, chopping wood for the stove, making your own barn, etc.
- alfiedotwtf 5y ago
  My family in the Philippines pretty much farm (rice and vegetables) for only a few months of the year, and the only technology they use is a few diesel water pumps. To be honest, they’re the happiest people I know
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    Do they make their own cloth? Weave their own clothes? Make their own soap? Make their own shoes? Saw their own planks for the buildings? Make their own nails? Eat food from elsewhere than their farm? Make their own pencils? Paper? Glass? Where did their meat come from? Chop wood and tend the woodburning stove all day? (Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate had a "nailery" where the nails were made that were needed for the buildings.) In any case, powered irrigation is a huge deal. Just imagine the backbreaking work hauling the water by hand.
    - alfiedotwtf 5y ago
      > Do they make their own... Not quiet, as they're not subsistence farming but surplus farming. Though, it's not surplus as in big business, just enough to make it through to the next the year's crop. I don't even think they have bank accounts etc.

WalterBright 5y ago

As I remarked, the surge in population without the food says everything.