[anothereng]

you don't need that many servants when you have businesses that offer the same services and you can afford them. Or you think middle class people can't afford travelling, laundry services, food delivery, etc.

The second thing you're referring to is power. Power I admit can be zero sum but most people are not ambitious in that way, they just want material wealth not political power.

[heavyset_go]

Sorry, using DoorDash to order fast food is not the same thing as having a team of the country's best chefs cooking every meal for you in your castle using ingredients your farmers hand-picked on your own vast swathes of premium farmland. Sounds healthier, too.

Similarly, spending $10 at McDonald's is not the same thing as having teams of servants tending to your every whim every waking moment until you die.

If you can't see that clear difference, I don't think you're approaching this in good faith. You shouldn't have to stretch the truth this much to make your point if it's actually true and you know it.

[ninkendo]

Let’s compare my quality of life to a king 500 years ago.

I have air conditioning.

I have running water and a toilet.

I have antibiotics. And all sorts of other medicine that actually works.

When I have to get an operation done I can go under anesthesia rather than it being literal torture. And I won’t be killed by an infection resulting from the tiniest cut.

I have literally endless entertainment. More than I can ever consume in a lifetime.

I have access to just about any piece of information that has ever existed and been made public.

I don’t have to worry about being killed by an uprising.

I can go on.

[rpdillon]

You act like having teams of servants is a good thing. It isn't. The best possible outcome is you don't need teams of servants and you can still have gobs of convenience. Which is exactly what the modern lifestyle has given us.

You're comparing a ten dollar meal from McDonald's to a cooked meal by a team of professionals. Your comparison completely ignores the fact that in modern society you can absolutely have a meal cooked by a team of professionals or you can have McDonald's and you can decide moment to moment what you want, and all of it requires less outlay from you than it did 500 years ago, so it's available to practically everyone, not just the most wealthy.