HIlarious. I think by him saying it, your brain atunes to the words.

a mutant

I don’t know the answer to the first question. It was a Mennonite thing. All members had to be Mennonite or in a Mennonite church (there are lots of non-Mennonites going to Mennonite churches), or connected to a Mennonite organization.That probably helped to keep costs down as we tend to be honest and experienced at community cooperation. I believe the management was hired by one of the Mennontie conferences.

Totally. I don’t know if it’s unique to Lemmy (I’m not on other social medias) or a movement in general, but there seems to be some kind of satisfaction in being able to say how terrible like is. I’ve lived in a third world country and am a history author. We in the west have it really good in comparison.

It has always been like this relatively speaking, in post hunter/gatherer society. Except there was a very small middle class in those days The nobles as compared to the serfs were the same. Except that the serfs hung at the edge of survival whereas we have indoor plumbing, decent shelter, electricity, tv, internet, healthcare, workers rights, and the priviledge of travel.

Not the same, but we had a crowd source house insurance setup. Basically, all the costs of the year were added up and then split between members. It was about half the cost of regular insurance.

I said, “one of the best times.” There may be .001 % of times that were better than the present. Surely you can’t expect to live in the very best time of the 300 000 years of human existence.

Humanity has been around for around 300 000 years. For the first 95 % of that, we were hunter/gatherers - ravaged by disease, tribal wars, accidents, exposed to the elements, no running water, no toilets, no doctors, no electricity, no easy transportation, the average lifespan between 25 and 33 years. For the next 4.5 % the average human was a serf, serf-like or a slave - worked 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week(or more), no vacation, lived to about 50, had no doctors, no indoor toilet, no indoor water. Water was likely a long distance away and had to be carried by hand to your hovel. Worker’s rights were virtually non-existant. You had intestinal parasites with no health care to relieve you. You were at the whim of the wealthy. Up to half of children didn’t make it to the age of 5. 4 % of women died in childbirth. Women were treated as property. There were no cars, no planes, no electricity, virtually no leisure time. There was minimal heat in winter, no cooling in summer. It is only in the last 0.1 % of our history that we (on average) have had any kind of comfort. We are indeed fortunate to be living now.

The point is, you wouldn’t because any time before that, the average human worked 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, lived to about 50, had no doctors, no indoor toilet, no indoor water. Water was likely a long distance away and had to be carried by hand to your hovel. You were a serf or serf-like or a slave. Worker’s rights were virtually non-existant. You had intestinal parasites with no health care to relieve you. You were at the whim of the wealthy. Up to half of children didn’t make it to the age of 5. 4 % of women died in childbirth. There were no cars, no planes, no electricity, virtually no leisure time. There was minimal heat in winter, no cooling in summer. We are indeed fortunate to be living now.

Starting in the year 1900 and going back 300 000 years, would you trade places with the average human on Earth?

That’s the trouble. We feel like we are, but in fact, we are not. Hunger has decreased incredibly over the last decades. Infectious diseases are way down. The standard of living is way up over the last three decades. The tools and technologies available to us are far beyond what former generations even dreamed of. Global conflict deaths are down. The average lifespan has double since 1900.

I don’t think that’ll happen in Japan.