The Amazing Things & Ideas - The Not So Good Old Days
Contrary to what climate alarmists might have you believe, we are better off in virtually every way today than we were a few centuries ago and all the centuries before that. Life before industrialization was not a utopia. Indeed, there was some equality; almost everyone was equally poor, lived equally short, miserable lives, and had equally limited opportunities. People didn’t have to worry about running out of resources because they scarcely had any resources to begin with. As Thomas Sowell has written, “Most of what are natural resources for us today were not natural resources for the cave man, who had not yet acquired the knowledge of how these things could be used for his own purposes.” Nor did our prehistoric ancestors have the luxury of enjoying an “untainted” natural world. They were too busy with survival in an often harsh and unforgiving environment. For most of human history, nothing ever improved significantly; people were born, they suffered, and they died. It was indeed a tragedy. Intellectuals have squandered far too much time trying to understand the causes of poverty. In fact, poverty is humanity’s default condition. It is wealth and prosperity that need explanation. The idea of a simple life where humans produce nothing and exist in perfect harmony with an untainted natural world is undeniably appealing to many. However, it is totally unrealistic. Far from alienating us from the natural world, technology enhances our ability to appreciate and interact with it. For instance, without technology, we wouldn’t be able to reach the peaks of the highest mountains, explore the ocean’s depths, or walk on the surface of the Moon. The “good old days” are a myth. In 1900, the average life expectancy of a newborn was 32 years. By 2021, this had more than doubled to 71 years. As recently as two centuries ago, half of the children ever born died before their 15th birthday. Now, only 4% of kids die before the age of 15. One cannot measure the pain of so many parents having to see their children die. Even though people think of capitalism as exploitative, we are working less than ever before. As people get richer, they tend to work fewer hours. Today, there are significantly fewer deaths due to natural disasters because we started utilizing our unique ability to master the climate. As Barack Obama said, “If you had to choose any moment in history in which to be born, […] you’d choose right now.” Progress is neither automatic nor inevitable, however. We are not entitled to anything. Everything worthwhile has been achieved by creating the necessary knowledge to get there. The future is open. The fate of the universe is up to people like us and what we choose to do. Follow me on X: @arjunkhemani Click here to support my work. |
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#25 – David Deutsch: Free-Will, Taking Children Seriously, and Anarcho-Capitalism
Monday, January 1, 2024
Watch now (41 mins) | David Deutsch is the author of The Fabric of Reality and The Beginning of Infinity. He works on fundamental issues in physics, particularly the quantum theory of computation and
Profits Are Proof of Service
Sunday, December 10, 2023
Every step toward the elimination of profit is progress on the way toward social disintegration.
#119 – Creativity: Our Only Way Forward
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Rejecting Career Paths and Planning for Uncertainty
#118 – Inequality is Not a Problem, Poverty is
Sunday, November 12, 2023
We will only have perfectly achieved equality when we are all dead.
The Altruism Trap: How Self-Sacrifice Stymies Progress
Sunday, October 29, 2023
If everyone sacrificed their own happiness for the happiness of others, no one would be happy.
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