[alun]

You might find the essay "I, Pencil" by Leonard Read interesting. It's told from the point of view of a pencil who talks about the complexity of his own creation and all of the components involved in the process

[nexuist]

That essay also loosely inspired the opening scene of Lord of War, which showcases the journey of a bullet from an underground mine to an Eastern European factory all the way into the head of an African child soldier.

[fakedang]

Loved that scene. Reminds me of all the "autobiography" stories we had to write for various items such as cars, horses, computers and pens, back in school.

[brazzy]

There's also Thomas Thwaites' "building a toaster... from scratch" project that goes into the details of how even an extremely simple appliance involves materials and processes that are effectively impossible for a single person to replicate (spoiler: he has to give up and "cheat" on some things).

[Cthulhu_]

Likewise, someone (I forgot who) who made a sandwich from scratch - growing wheat, pigs, cows, produce, the works.

[alickz]

Paraphrased here in 2 minutes by Milton Friedman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67tHtpac5ws

[Anotheroneagain]

It's just ideological drivel. People never had any difficulty to cooperate on such level.

[Cthulhu_]

Except for over 300.000 years ago.

[feedforward]

One part of the drivel - he says don't let the government inhibit the invisible hand of the market that Adam Smith discusses in The Wealth of Nations. But in The Wealth of Nations, the invisible hand is the hand of the government inhibiting free trade between nations.