[yesOfCourse9]

The average middle class house has more luxury than kings of old available.

Billions of humans died before we got where we are.

I don’t really see a reason to a) push each other as hard as we do; that hard for incremental linear economic gains inequitably distributed? To gain even more minor improvement? Haha b) see the need to do perform harder as much more than a chemical delusion

Billionaires got there by gaming biology, not building the entirety of society. I’d be a billionaire if I had a network of sycophants telling everyone I’m a billionaire too.

Our culture has jumped the shark. I look forward to the bubble bursting.

[dsr_]

Before 1880 or so, if you wanted to listen to music, you played an instrument yourself, went to a pre-arranged concert on their schedule, or were incredibly wealthy and paid musicians to give you concerts.

In the 1920s you bought a radio or phonograph.

In the 1980s you bought tapes and then CDs and could listen on the go.

Now you can pay a subscription service and a bandwidth bill and get much of human music anytime, and nearly anywhere.

Food was stuff you or your neighbors grew; then it was stuff from your area; after refrigeration it could come from anywhere.

Books and television are cheaper than they've ever been before; movies are more available.

[zwieback]

Yet I grow food in my garden (inefficiently) and play instruments for fun (not very well), because modern life is so convenient I can do those things. I'm thanking my lucky stars and never worry about what regrets I might have in the future but also have to answer my daughters' questions whether they will have those luxuries.

At age 85 I might have regrets that I should have done more to preserve things for the next generation. Then again, we're terrible at predicting the future...

[rjbwork]

Trillions is definitely hyperbolic. Estimates I've read is ~100 billion or so humans to ever exist.