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Comment by JamesBarney | Hacker News Reader

You must be reading very different history books than the ones I've read.

The idea that we're somehow way more exploited than the people who came before us does not seem compatible with any history book I've ever read.

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It depends on the timespan and comparative frame you are thinking about. If we limit ourselves to post-WW2 MAD world, there are much different overall trends in quality of life than starting in the middle ages or from colonial times, where many people did not enjoy the rights or luxuries modern people would, not in small part because they couldn't, technologically speaking. It's easy to compare modern poverty to peasantry and say we have it good now, but it doesn't address modern problems in a meaningful way.

> It depends on the timespan and comparative frame you are thinking about

There are few dimensions where pre-industrial life is better before than after. The quality of life for the average human is many standard deviations above what it was just a few centuries prior. It wasn't that long ago cholera was a death sentence.

Turns out it's more efficient to keep the cattle somewhat happy. Doesn't change a thing when it comes time to get steak.

Have you ever wondered why the user is the product in so many internet companies?

Before, the body was in chains, but the mind was free.

Now, the mind is in chains.

What evidence do you have for this? Do you think chattel slaves of the USA weren't broken in mind - indoctrinated into Christianity, stripped of their original languages, culture and names? That was not some novel evil created by Southerners - it's the tried-and-true method for enslaving populations throughout history.

But I'm sure the existence of TikTok is an existential threat.

How successfully?

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