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> 90% of people today live a much better life than lords and kings lived 500 years ago. I'm not sure this is true. For one, you can't really compare lives, and
by mxkopy 4y ago
> 90% of people today live a much better life than lords and kings lived 500 years ago.
I'm not sure this is true. For one, you can't really compare lives, and for two, happiness seems to be determined by social factors in ways that would make this untrue.
Being able to play music whenever I want is a power that kings could only dream of, but if they had it they would get bored of it probably pretty quickly.
If I could trade all my modern comforts for a minor lordship in the medieval era I would do so in a heartbeat. I'd have good friends, no need to worry about political plots, a good social circle, access to whatever resources I needed, plenty of time to do things I want - a lot of the population doesn't have these things, and modernity doesn't give them to you.
- bckr 4y ago> If I could trade all my modern comforts for a minor lordship in the medieval era Does this take into account the difference in medicine between the two time periods?
- mxkopy 4y agoYeah. I'd rather have a deathbed that came really quickly with me remembering a good social life than one in which I'm remembering all the times I almost died but didn't.
- credit_guy 4y ago> I'd have good friends, no need to worry about political plots. You'd have to worry about what you leave to your kids. "Prime and Prejudice" comes to mind. If you didn't have a male heir, your estate might go to some distant relative. Even if you had, your kids who were not your first born son would only inherit a tiny fraction of your wealth. One or two generations down the line, their offspring will be destitute.
- mxkopy 4y agoStill, I'd have plenty of time to worry about those things. In fact that would probably be my "job" - developing, maintaining, and expanding the estate that I would eventually leave to my kids.
- credit_guy 4y agoYes, but in a world without growth, this was a zero-sum game. If you won at that game, it was only because someone else lost.
- mxkopy 4y agoNo coincidence of wants is also a requisite for zero-sum. If my estate were used primarily for logging, but people also found it beautiful, I could teach my children how to manage a hostel business and increase its value without devaluing anything else. Also, who's to say the world isn't zero-sum now? I'm certainly feeling squeezed, even with all this supposed growth and modernity.
- atq2119 4y agoDoes "hostel business" in this sense and "medieval era" really go together?
- owlninja 4y agoIs this not slavery?
- jimbokun 4y agoGiving up a access to modern medicine would probably be the biggest downside.
- Dig1t 4y agoAlso indoor plumbing/showers/toilets, all the hygiene products we use everyday that cost us basically nothing, indoor lighting (everything done at night was by candlelight and candles were expensive). So much of modern life we take for granted, it all adds up to a very different quality of life experience.
- selimthegrim 4y ago> I'd have good friends, no need to worry about political plots, a good social circle Famous last words…
- mxkopy 4y agoThey say a large branch fell on him, near the plains...we'll miss that fellow