On the last post I mentioned the example of the professor who started his economics class with a question about whether the students would rather be a 14th century king, or would they rather be themselves, today? The answer is, of course, the latter - but not for all the reasons that we might think.
I also rambled on a bit about the need for accountability - not just for governing authorities (biblically accountable to God). but for citizens as well. But I left the "Would you rather" question open... ...perhaps because I am crazy like that.
The shallow answer to this question is also revealing - I mean, who in their right mind would give up the comforts of their running water and electricity (not to mention their smart phones) to live, even as a king, in an era so primitive?
Yet for many thousands of years, this was life. People spent so much time trying to live, that they did not waste a lot of time figuring out the intricacies of lightning, for instance. If a person wanted to study science, he had to be born into the right family, learn under some great person, like Aristotle, perhaps and then somehow obtain enough money to fund not only his own existence, but the existence of his studies and experiments as well. To say that progress came slowly would be accurate.
In more recent times, we are more free to learn and to discover - perhaps completely on our own - new ideas, new technology, etc. We don't need a duke to offer his protection along with candles, paper, pen, ink, books, room and board in exchange for magic tricks at his next banquet - for us to think of a profitable product to sell or an idea to improve something.
We simply make a phone call, place and order for materials, do the thing, pitch the product and sell it - maybe entirely on the World Wide Interweb if you wanted.
No single person or government sat down and decided to invent all of this. It was the work and ingenuity of tens of thousands of people, working in a free market. Toil and sweat to some degree or another resulted in their success, and incidentally, your smart phone, e-reader, anti-lock brakes, and HD TV's...
The next time I hear someone complain about how much the world owes them a "fair" living - I think I will call them "your highness" because they are living in a world of their own making. It is a world in which they want to make demands (like a king) "Just fetch me my slippers... ...oh and draw me a nice warm bath!" Not too many of us these days could survive without our technology - Not too many of us are making headlines with gratefulness either...
...and then I see a story of the folks in Somalia. Ugh. We are so blessed...
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