[Leanan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hat is happiness? In the United States and in many other industrialized countries, it is often equated with money.

Economists measure consumer confidence on the assumption that the resulting figure says something about progress and public welfare. The gross domestic product, or G.D.P., is routinely used as shorthand for the well-being of a nation.

But the small Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has been trying out a different idea.

In 1972, concerned about the problems afflicting other developing countries that focused only on economic growth, Bhutan's newly crowned leader, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, decided to make his nation's priority not its G.D.P. but its G.N.H., or gross national happiness.

[emersonbiggins]

It's a good idea.
'Standard of living' is a poor measure of both social and economic health, anyways.
See 'GDP' for other example.

How many toys one has certainly doesn't correlate well with their overall 'happiness'.

[BabyPeanut]

"Medieval Peasants Sat In Front of a Web Browser Less Than You Do"

[backstop]

Leanan -

while it's a real pleasure to see another Constitutional Monarchy emerging, it's worth noting that the previous Absolute Monarchy has established one of the most sustainable societies on the planet.

Exactly which republic can even get near making such a claim ?

Personally I guess the republican model's intensifying failures are due not merely to its promtion of property rights over human rights, but to its basis in the slave-state thinking of ancient Greece.

[Tin Hat On]

regards,

Backstop

[gnm]

Medieval Peasants also lived half as long.

-G

[NeoPeasant]

IMHO every American ought to spend a year living in a 12' square cabin with a wood stove, no electricity and no plumbing, an outhouse and a well pump outside. They should have no vehicle and live on a diet of unprocessed grain, produce and maybe the occasional chicken or rabbit. (which would still be considered a luxurious life by many of the worlds inhabitants).
This would help them understand the difference between what they actually need and what they merely want or are just used to having. This understanding may prove to be quite useful in the coming years when it may be a matter of life or death to appreciate the differences.

[gnm]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NeoPeasant', 'I')MHO every American ought to spend a year living in a 12' square cabin with a wood stove, no electricity and no plumbing, an outhouse and a well pump outside. They should have no vehicle and live on a diet of unprocessed grain, produce and maybe the occasional chicken or rabbit. (which would still be considered a luxurious life by many of the worlds inhabitants).
This would help them understand the difference between what they actually need and what they merely want or are just used to having. This understanding may prove to be quite useful in the coming years when it may be a matter of life or death to appreciate the differences.

[romanko]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NeoPeasant', 'I')MHO every American ought to spend a year living in a 12' square cabin with a wood stove, no electricity and no plumbing, an outhouse and a well pump outside. They should have no vehicle and live on a diet of unprocessed grain, produce and maybe the occasional chicken or rabbit. (which would still be considered a luxurious life by many of the worlds inhabitants).
This would help them understand the difference between what they actually need and what they merely want or are just used to having. This understanding may prove to be quite useful in the coming years when it may be a matter of life or death to appreciate the differences.

[Jake_old]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '"')Medieval Peasants Sat In Front of a Web Browser Less Than You Do"

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')edieval Peasants also lived half as long.

[gary_malcolm]

Basic life expectancy numbers tend to exaggerate this growth in the modern era.

The low level of pre-modern life expectancy is distorted by the previous extremely high infant and childhood mortality. If a person did make it to the age of forty they had an average of another twenty years to live. Improvements in medicine, public health and nutrition have therefore mainly increased the numbers of people living beyond childhood, with less effect on overall average lifespan.

[linlithgowoil]

i work about 44 hours a week. i sit on my ass all day long at my desk, use the phone, revise documents, have an hour lunch, drive to and from my work straight to my door in comfort. return to my home, eat quality food, watch digital tv, play the pc, and have a great comfortable bed to sleep in.

people would seriously trade that for back breaking labour in the middle ages? holy crap.

[NeoPeasant]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NeoPeasant', 'I')MHO every American ought to spend a year living in a 12' square cabin with a wood stove, no electricity and no plumbing, an outhouse and a well pump outside. They should have no vehicle and live on a diet of unprocessed grain, produce and maybe the occasional chicken or rabbit. (which would still be considered a luxurious life by many of the worlds inhabitants).

[Jake_old]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'i') work about 44 hours a week. i sit on my ass all day long at my desk, use the phone, revise documents, have an hour lunch, drive to and from my work straight to my door in comfort. return to my home, eat quality food, watch digital tv, play the pc, and have a great comfortable bed to sleep in.

[mgibbons19]

the unabomber

[DomusAlbion]

Ah, romanticizing about the medieval period. How sweet.

I'll take my fresh tomatoes in February, hot tub, modern medical practices and pluralistic society and civil rights, thank you.

[FireJack]

We know know a lot more about whats good for you and whats not that they didn't have in the middle ages. They had no idea how to treat illnesses back then and its one of the main reason so many suffered. Plus religious suppresion, poor diet, generally uneducated populace, etc.

Living a simple life isn't the same as living like a midievil peasent.

[gnm]

Hell no - no way I'd want to live that way - I just thought the idea of a short period of living "medieval style" would be humbling and enlightening. Thats why I liked the idea. Sort of like how much you appreciate a long hot shower after a tough weeklong backpacking trip...

Never mind that a good chunk of the world _does_ live that way..... Those of us in the pampered places might be better able to understand if we had experienced...

-G

[DomusAlbion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gnm', ' ')I just thought the idea of a short period of living "medieval style" would be humbling and enlightening. Thats why I liked the idea. Sort of like how much you appreciate a long hot shower after a tough weeklong backpacking trip...

[snip]

-G

[Jake_old]

We live longer but aren't the things we die of just as horrible.

War, disease, self inflicted type things too.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')ure we in the West are pampered and fortunate and we should appreciate what we have. I know I do.