Genetic Engineering?

[The Weapon]

Re: Genetic Engineering?

 

 

I kind of doubt the farm labourers were working longer than 14 hour days.

 

And I kind of doubt they were getting the same pay. I also think they were working at least that long during at least part of the summer.

[Clonus]

Re: Genetic Engineering?

 

And I kind of doubt they were getting the same pay. I also think they were working at least that long during at least part of the summer.

 

I'm sure they weren't getting the same pay. Tenant farmers were upset to be evicted from their land in favour of sheep but farm labourers weren't any worse off paywise. However factory work isn't nearly so seasonal.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Genetic Engineering?

 

I'm sure they weren't getting the same pay. Tenant farmers were upset to be evicted from their land in favour of sheep but farm labourers weren't any worse off paywise. However factory work isn't nearly so seasonal.

The two aren't necessarily that distinct. Classic factory work stops when the millstreams stop running (even after the steam engine, since early condensors relied heavily on stream water). In winter, when streams freeze and the roads are closed, everyone is spinning and weaving. In the summer, factories would close just in time for the grain harvest. Agricultural labourers classically suffered from seasonal underemployment that industrial work ameliorated.

[Maelstrom]

Re: Genetic Engineering?

 

Y'know, when the first TRAINS were invented, it was thought that people would DIE if they went faster than 30 mph. 'Strue. Can't make this stuff up.

 

So, at first, genetic engineering is feared and hated, until ONE PERSON goes forward and does it and survives. Then the rich take it over. Then, eventually, everybody gets into it.

 

And then . . . something better (such as nanotech or even picotech) comes along and acts like the automobile or the plane acted on the trains -- reducing their use to that which is the most common and makes the most money (like freight hauling) while PEOPLE go by cheaper and more-convenient private transport.

 

Then, gas goes through the roof, and private transport doesn't look so good. Nano-tech might show problems at the most basic level, or what have you. Good ol' tried-and-true genetic engineering to the rescue!

 

Or, they're both replaced by Picotech, which is a concept I completely stole from Freefall (http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fv01395.htm), a fantastic webcomic.

 

"Maybe for now, but one day building with natural atoms will seem as quaint as living in log cabins."

[Markdoc]

Re: Genetic Engineering?

 

High lattitude summers? Don't doubt it.

 

You are right. We have quite detailed records from diaries and accounts of late preindustrial farm work in Europe and during the summer the day started between 4 and 5 am. Workers would have a snack (usually something like small beer and a mug of thin porridge or a slice of bread and lard) head out to work, come back around 9 for breakfast, work through the day with a break at lunch time around 1 or 2 pm, keep working until dinner (6 pm) and depending on the time of year either work another 3 hours until supper (9 pm) or return to the farm and do chores. Even during the winter, there was plenty of work from handcrafting all the utensils and tools used arond the farm, to making items such as baskets, clothes or utensils for sale. A 12-16 hour workday was the norm, not the exception.

 

Reading some of those old accounts makes me realise how good we have it today. Also why obesty was not a problem despite the huge amount of eating that went on. Basically back then, life was work, for most people and it's striking how rarely people just "sat around": there was alwasy something that needed doing. Festivals and the sabbath were it as far as lesiure went.

 

cheers, Mark