In modern, Western civilization, "affluence" is typically defined by
one's accumulation of possessions, including land, car, houses,
businesses, money, and other material items. However, given that these
pursuits are all temporal, and given the sacrifices exchanged for
modern life, I don't think it's a very meaningful definition of
"affluence".

Hunter-gather societies typically had more leisure time, worked fewer
hours, ate healthy food, and probably had a great deal more freedom
than any industrialized society. These are the major components of a
high quality of life -- freedom, physical and economic security, clean
air, high quality food, clean water, and, well, job security.

Surely there are downsides as well (poor medical care, for one). But
by and large we've been hoodwinked into thinking that
industrialization = affluence . . . that's simply not the case, if we
consider the components that make up a high quality of life.

On Jul 21, 6:06 pm, ta nc.rr.com> wrote:

On Jul 21, 5:29 pm, tg earthlink.net> wrote:

On Jul 22, 8:06 am, ta nc.rr.com> wrote:

On Jul 21, 9:12 pm, "bigflet...@gmail.com" gmail.com>
wrote:

Sometime you'll have to tell me what this "Rolex thing" is all
about....

Shortly after I retired in December 06, I put my watch on a counter
and smashed it with a mallet (I like to make points with visual
symbols along with figurative ones).

tryin' to get "back in the groove",
K e v

On Jul 22, 2:50 pm, kevirwin comcast.net> wrote:

On Jul 22, 1:50 am, "bigflet...@gmail.com" gmail.com>
wrote:

On Jul 22, 1:50 am, "bigflet...@gmail.com" gmail.com>
wrote:

On Jul 22, 12:50 am, kevirwin comcast.net> wrote:

On Jul 22, 2:46 am, turtoni fastmail.net> wrote: