> you assume the only life worth valuing is one that you know. No, I think all life is worth valuing, it's just an objective fact that the vast majority of peo

> you assume the only life worth valuing is one that you know. No, I think all life is worth valuing, it's just an objective fact that the vast majority of people would prefer not to be subsistence farming. > look at the amish. The Amish are not pure subsistence farmers. Many of them shop at Costco and Wal-Mart if it's accessible to them. They are also dependent on the rest of society for emergency services and healthcare, just like us. Their daily existence is far closer to ours than that of a subsistence farmer in sub-Saharan Africa. > when i am in the field, it is as if there is nothing going wrong in the world. headlines dont pierce the stillness. something ineffable has been lost. That's all well and good, I like being in nature and getting away from it all too, but there's no sense in romanticizing poverty like you're doing here. Subsistence farming is pain and suffering for huge numbers of people, not just an escape from the over-technologized mainstream culture of wealthy countries.