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points by WalterBright 3 hours ago | 0 comments

Technology makes a lot of things better. Like eliminating symptoms of 95% of cystic fibrosis victims.

> even widen the gap between the haves and haves not

America's poor have a higher standard of living than medieval kings.

[–] hyperhello 1 hour ago

Medieval poor likely had a higher standard of living than ancient kings, should they have complained?

[–] intenex 1 hour ago

I don't think that's actually true lol

[–] senderista 30 minutes ago

Not even close. Foragers 10K years ago had better longevity and nutrition than medieval peasants.

[–] omikun 2 hours ago

They also work longer hours than medieval serfs, are more precarious in housing and food security and more separated from their family. Also slaves work the farms. Read tomatoland or the lives and deaths of the American workers.

[–] ethanj8011 1 hour ago

I am not making a statement about the quality of life of poor people in the modern world. I do not think however that from a food security standpoint they are more precarious. I am fairly confident that the longer hours thing is false. Unless we are assuming like 70+ hours of work a week.

https://acoup.blog/2025/08/22/collections-life-work-death-an... You can read https://acoup.blog/2025/09/05/collections-life-work-death-an... which is by a working historian.

I also want to add that, none of this is relevant to the point of whether or not the current system is "just" or reasonable given and I think overall that argument is mostly a red herring.

[–] smackeyacky 2 hours ago

That is a silly comparison.

[–] N_Lens 2 hours ago

But it gets the masses going!