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Jerdope t1_j69dpsi wrote

You think you work longer and harder than the people of the 1800s and earlier? Lmao

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Soup_Roll t1_j6a4jmh wrote

People working in those Mills in the 1800s were probably cursing technology too

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Crazocrates t1_j6a5b7h wrote

They definitely were. And living better more abundant lives than those before them. People were ignorant of history back then. Today, people have no excuse for thinking we have it worse.

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Soup_Roll t1_j6a6bo3 wrote

I don't think you can objectively say people were living "better more abundant lives". You can say people are generally healthier, live longer, are better educated but it's impossible to say whether people are happier or living more meaningful lives. Especially because you're always dealing with averages and statistics or anecdotal stuff and never with the individuals. No one can say for sure. Maybe the ancient Greeks fucking loved life and we are all living a pale shadow of the hijinks they had

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Crazocrates t1_j6a7ray wrote

I said they were living better more abundant lives. Which is objectively true.

If you plopped an average ancient Greek into the modern world and gave him a labor job, he would be overjoyed at all the basic comforts he/she can now enjoy....

They would look at people being sad and depressed and wonder why tf.

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Soup_Roll t1_j6a8wcb wrote

This is your mistake though. Its not about judging the past by modern standards, it's about the quality of life by the standards of the time. If everyone dies by 30 then that's just life, it doesn't make your life worse that we now live longer in the same way our life isn't changed by the fact in 2084 people might live to 200. An average person can travel the globe now but will never have the thrill of seeing an animal that they haven't already seen on TV or in a kids book. An ancient Greek might be caught at sea, wash up in Madagascar and have their mind blown. Whose life is more abundant?

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Crazocrates t1_j6a9gm8 wrote

Ours. Because we legitimately have more. More of practically everything. An average individual back then had less than an average individual now. That ancient Greek might only ever hear stories about animals other than what roams his neighborhood.

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krahk t1_j6ahzbf wrote

That's not really the point. The point is despite having technology which allows work to be done more easily and also extremely more productively, we still have to work full time to get by. Granted, we have to work much fewer hours than those in the past. But if you just think about the transition between before and after the birth of the mainstream computer, productivity has gone up dramatically, but working hours haven't seen a similarly dramatic decrease in hours necessary to earn a living.

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krectus t1_j6abd0y wrote

You see it a lot around here. This generation has convinced themselves that they work more than previous ones and that they’ve got it a lot harder. Not realizing they work about 10 hours a week less than previous generations and usually at work that is much easier.

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