[throwvirtever]

Did people during the period(s) of high innovation have as much personal debt (especially home mortgages) as people do today? A lot of people have too many bills coming in every month to devote time and effort to things too weird to "attract investment".

[aksss]

People living in periods of high innovation (Han dynasty, 19th century West) didn’t have near the luxury your average person in America enjoys today. Less debt, but also a dramatically lower carbon footprint reflecting a far lower standard of living and opportunity. They would consider you lucky for having the opportunity to get and carry a mortgage by comparison. Especially to do so with such ease and lack of social standing. The food you eat, the air travel you can enjoy, your figurative and literal mobility, etc.

You can still live as they did if you want to. Rent a dwelling, live with another family or more relatives, eat largely the same food except on holidays, perhaps live and die without traveling outside your town, do some military service.

Nobody makes you take on massive personal debt. Ideally you’re doing it as an investment with a plan for return. Also, the world won’t end if you stop getting nickled-and-dimed by monthly subscriptions. Shut it down for a while.

[throwvirtever]

Of course it's possible to live in a more basic, debt-free way, but my suspicion is that in the USA (which is the scope of the article) most people do not, which reduces the pool of people with enough time and energy to do something interesting.