We often believe that the way we see the world today is pretty much how people have always seen the world. If people in the past didn't see things the way we see things today then they would have if they really thought about them. This is, of course, untrue. People in the past have believed a wide variety of different things. And it is useful to peek into one of these past moments to put our current beliefs and worldview into perspective.
As the industrial age went into full swing in Victorian England, a few interesting things occurred which shed light on our current worldview and future economy.The first relates to the previous post about the clock and capitalism. As farmers moved into cities and began working in factories, one of the problems that factory bosses had was getting the workers to show up on time. Back in those days people were used to getting up with the sun (or rooster) which occurred at a slightly different time each day. Having them show up for work at the same time every morning felt silly and unnatural. If you told them that in the future people's activities would be controlled by digital timekeepers they probably wouldn't believe it. And many things that I tell you about the future are just as hard for you to believe.
A second problem that occurred in the factories was that people smelled very bad. Back in those days people would not bath on a daily basis and might go for weeks or months without a bath. Bathing was considered unhealthy. And, in the confined spaces of a factory, it could get pretty ripe. Bathing did not become a regular practice until a doctor posited the germ theory of illness saying that common illnesses such as colds were caused by germs and bathing could reduce the germs. Today, we fully accept germ theory and the hygiene that goes along with it. But, in Victorian England it was a tough sell.
It is interesting to speculate what things do we believe today that are untrue and the truth of which would lead us to behave very differently. In Woody Allen's movie The Sleeper a man is put into suspended animation and wakes up in a future where cigarettes and bacon are good for you. I don't care about the cigarettes. But I long for a world where bacon is a health food and the more scotch you drink the longer you live. Ah, if it were only so.
The final point has to do with productivity. Victorian coal miners got paid for the amount or coal they brought out of the mines and did not get paid if they were not productive. Since life was good when a vein was found and not so good when they were trying to locate one, the miners and their families got used to cycles of abundance and deprivation. These cycles are recorded in a well know nursery rhyme - Pop Goes the Weasel. Pop was the slang word for pawn and the weasel was slang for one's Sunday best clothing. When times got tough and money ran short, families would have to pawn their best clothing in order to get by until times got better. We can see this in the words of this catchy nursery rhyme:
A penny for a spool of thread,
A penny for a needle,
That's the way the money goes
Pop goes the Weasel.
If you were to tell Victorian miners that in the future people will get paid for showing up, they simply wouldn't believe that. If you tell people today that in the future people will be paid based on productivity, they don't believe that any easier.
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