4 ms·

It's very unlikely that slaves would be able to cover any present-day jobs except very menial service tasks. Cleaning houses, mowing lawns, sure. But you would

by qsort 4y ago

It's very unlikely that slaves would be able to cover any present-day jobs except very menial service tasks. Cleaning houses, mowing lawns, sure. But you wouldn't even get as far as a taxi/truck driver, which is one of the least qualified jobs today.

snapcaster 4y ago
This is actually completely incorrect. Slavery has and always will be profitable and it is still something being experienced by millions of people today. >Cleaning houses, mowing lawns, sure. But you wouldn't even get as far as a taxi/truck driver Again I see how one might expect this to be true but it isn't. some industries where slavery is widespread: - Sex work - ocean fishing - mining I'm sure there are others
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
thatguy0900 4y ago
ghaff 4y ago
Just because someone is born into poor circumstances without many options for upward mobility doesn't make them stupid. Furthermore, truck driver isn't a particularly low skill occupation. I couldn't drive an 18-wheeler. Can you? And something like taxi driving mostly seems low skill because most adults in industrialized society have been driving since they were relatively young.
- qsort 4y ago
  It's not a reasonable interpretation of what I wrote that I'm implying they're stupid.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
    I think it is. That was pretty much the impression it gave me.
- wrycoder 4y ago
  The skill was in having a map of London in your head.
bluGill 4y ago
Slaves did many skilled labor jobs back in the day. In Uncle Tom's Cabin (a book you really should read, but beware the purpose was to make you pick up your gun and march, so if you have those tendencies...) on of the important slaves held a good factory job. Of course most slaves were just hard labor, but they did hold other positions. I think you can find examples of slaves holding every position in society other than government leader.
- qsort 4y ago
  That you can find some examples of a tiny minority slaves doing some highly-skilled jobs does not contradict the statement that it's unlikely that slavery as an institution would be compatible with a modern economy, even ignoring the obvious moral evil it represents. Also, just by the way, we ought to be able to talk without implying that other people have "those tendencies". There is simply no reasonable way a comment about the structure of an industrialized economy can be constructed as "having those tendencies". Appending "slavery = bad" to every comment is tiresome, there is such a thing as context.
- BurningFrog 4y ago
  I think the point is more that you can't give a slave a truck with a tank of gas and expect to see either again.
  - bluGill 4y ago
    Sure you can - so long as you have a police force that will check up on things once in a while. Or at least you have convinced the slaves that the police force will catch them and life will be worse after they are caught.
    - BurningFrog 4y ago
      Up to a point, sure. But I think there is a point when it makes more sense to just pay the guy a wage, instead of running a big expensive police state controlling everything...

by qsort 4y ago

snapcaster 4y ago

This is actually completely incorrect. Slavery has and always will be profitable and it is still something being experienced by millions of people today. >Cleaning houses, mowing lawns, sure. But you wouldn't even get as far as a taxi/truck driver Again I see how one might expect this to be true but it isn't. some industries where slavery is widespread: - Sex work - ocean fishing - mining I'm sure there are others

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

thatguy0900 4y ago

ghaff 4y ago

Just because someone is born into poor circumstances without many options for upward mobility doesn't make them stupid. Furthermore, truck driver isn't a particularly low skill occupation. I couldn't drive an 18-wheeler. Can you? And something like taxi driving mostly seems low skill because most adults in industrialized society have been driving since they were relatively young.

qsort 4y ago
It's not a reasonable interpretation of what I wrote that I'm implying they're stupid.
- HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
  I think it is. That was pretty much the impression it gave me.
wrycoder 4y ago
The skill was in having a map of London in your head.

bluGill 4y ago

Slaves did many skilled labor jobs back in the day. In Uncle Tom's Cabin (a book you really should read, but beware the purpose was to make you pick up your gun and march, so if you have those tendencies...) on of the important slaves held a good factory job. Of course most slaves were just hard labor, but they did hold other positions. I think you can find examples of slaves holding every position in society other than government leader.

qsort 4y ago
That you can find some examples of a tiny minority slaves doing some highly-skilled jobs does not contradict the statement that it's unlikely that slavery as an institution would be compatible with a modern economy, even ignoring the obvious moral evil it represents. Also, just by the way, we ought to be able to talk without implying that other people have "those tendencies". There is simply no reasonable way a comment about the structure of an industrialized economy can be constructed as "having those tendencies". Appending "slavery = bad" to every comment is tiresome, there is such a thing as context.
BurningFrog 4y ago
I think the point is more that you can't give a slave a truck with a tank of gas and expect to see either again.
- bluGill 4y ago
  Sure you can - so long as you have a police force that will check up on things once in a while. Or at least you have convinced the slaves that the police force will catch them and life will be worse after they are caught.
  - BurningFrog 4y ago
    Up to a point, sure. But I think there is a point when it makes more sense to just pay the guy a wage, instead of running a big expensive police state controlling everything...