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throwaway89864 • today at 5:12 PM • 4 replies • view on HN

It's more or less reverse to the mean. The period in which a people had both access to education and leverage through their labor and intellect is super short. For most of recorded history, the bulk of humanity lived as peasants, serfs, or slaves. They were mostly illiterate, bound to the land or to a master, and had little power to bargain over the terms of their (or their children) lives.


Replies

wk_end • today at 5:30 PM

"The arc of the moral universe is long but it reverts to the mean" is somehow less inspiring.

robotnikman • today at 9:15 PM

>For most of recorded history, the bulk of humanity lived as peasants, serfs, or slaves. They were mostly illiterate, bound to the land or to a master, and had little power to bargain over the terms of their (or their children) lives.

I feel like we should be doing everything we can to not revert back to that way of life.

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soulofmischief • today at 5:38 PM

I'm too young to be financially secure given my impoverished background, not having parents in my life, being homeless as a teenager, etc. But too old and physically disabled to change course from tech. Nothing to do but keep walking through this tunnel and see where it ends up. It's scary!

lr4444lr • today at 9:01 PM

Disagree. Scribes, doctors, bankers, and government clerks always existed, even if the education to do it was expensive and exclusive. For the first time in history, this labor, including its knowledge content might become automated and commoditized.