Originally Posted by mike
Life was not so grand in the 1800s or before that, despite what you might see on the Little House On The Prairie re-runs. Every continent experienced times of famine - petroleum products largely changed that with effective pesticides, fertilizer, and herbicides.
So, your suggestion that "All the human generations before the 1870s or so were mired in deep misery, why, it's amazing they didn't kill themselves." is not so far off as your sarcasm had intended. Sure, some people did commit suicide, but most did not have to. Life was short enough as it was.
I don't know about this.
I was in the library not too long ago reading old newspapers stored on microfilm about 100 years ago. I did not see any of this "deep misery" you mention at all or people suffering because they didn't have motor transport. In fact, people were happy as we were in the middle of an industrial revolution and jobs were abundant.
Just look at what petrol has done in the past 100 years. Millions have been killed world wide in motor car accidents yet this is considered insignificant for it is the price we must pay for hyper mobolity. Has petrol really improved our diet or is it full of fat and sugar killing tens of thousands each year? Is this considered progress? Did you know that obesity and diabetes were a small fraction of medical deaths 100 years ago but has become epidemic today? How many people have been killed or being killed over the past 100 years through wars to support our inexpensive oil addiction? How many millions are going to be killed when the Artic melts raising water level to unprecendented hights due to all the fossil fuels sent into the atmosphere?
In a separate issue, I suspect 500 years from now, people will be say how terrible it must have been to live in 2005 when they didn't have a cure for Aids or Cancer, actually had to use money for currency, couldn't fly to Mars or live to be 250 years old. Tell me. Do you think life stinks in 2005 because we can't travel at 100,000 miles per hour or your Ipod doesn't come with 100 billion Giga bytes? Hardly! Life was enjoyable 100 year ago and it will be 100 years from now with or without Petrol or anything else for that matter.
As I read through the New York Times 100 years ago, I didn't see any of this human sufferage people mention on this forum. I suspect if I go back 150 years ago, the result will be the same and I challenge you to read prior newspapers at the turn of the centry to see for yourself. People worked, dated, lived and shopped all without the use of a motorcar. It seems like people really believe that life in this country started after 1925 when the Model T became affordable to the mass population. We went throght two World Wars and two industrial revolutions and so much more with the majority of the population car free. When all the oil runs out, we will return just like the way we were 100 years ago in 1905. People will just have to live, work and shop within walking distance. Life will be simple again.