> I do think there's legitimate value to the idea-- I'd bet most people would be a lot happier without electricity or indoor plumbing than we'd imagine.
I think only someone who has grown up with both of those advances would be able to make this comment with a straight face.
Ask anyone who has nearly frozen to death in the winter because they couldn't afford their electricity bill what they think of that statement.
Or anyone who nearly died from cholera because of drinking from the nearest river due to no water utilities what they think of that statement.
I'm not writing this to be hostile. It is simply a statement that the "good ol' days" were not really so good afterall.
You're not talking about going without electricity or indoor plumbing. You're talking about being poor. Of course there's a great deal of overlap, but don't mistake the two.
I haven't done it myself, but I have a good friend who spent a couple winters in a cabin in rural Vermont. It's not that bad. You buy enough firewood to last, and get water from the well. It gets cold at night, but you've got a roof and a fire and a sleeping bag, you're not going to die. You can walk and hitchhike to the hospital in the nearest town, if you get sick. Really, the biggest issue is loneliness.
Sure, you give up a lot of comforts which I wouldn't want to, but people lived that way in good spirits for thousands of years. Empirical evidence suggests we have more or less the same capacity for unhappiness regardless of circumstance.
The biggest issue is you spend a great deal of time just doing the things that automation can do in a fraction of the time. If you have a family, "laundry day" is literally a whole day and it is brutal, backbreaking labor. That is already 1/7 of your live devoted to something that is a solved problem.
I think only someone who has grown up with both of those advances would be able to make this comment with a straight face.
Ask anyone who has nearly frozen to death in the winter because they couldn't afford their electricity bill what they think of that statement.
Or anyone who nearly died from cholera because of drinking from the nearest river due to no water utilities what they think of that statement.
I'm not writing this to be hostile. It is simply a statement that the "good ol' days" were not really so good afterall.