“Just consider the shift from a world without telephones to one with them, or from a world of oil lamps to one with electric light. Next to that, who cares about Facebook or the iPad? Indeed, who really cares about the Internet when one considers clean water and flushing toilets?”

“The collapse in child mortality is surely the single most beneficial social change of the past two centuries. It is not only a great good in itself; it also liberated women from the burden, trauma, and danger of frequent pregnancies. ”

“The only recent connections between homes and the outside world are satellite dishes and broadband. Neither is close to being as important as clean water, sewerage, gas, electricity, and the telephone. The great breakthroughs in health—clean water, sewerage, refrigeration, packaging, vaccinations, and antibiotics—are also all long established.”

( ‘Connections between homes and the outside world’ … instantly this brought to mind BRT in Curitiba, and Human Transit’s model of VERY Frequent Bus/Public-Transit-Mode passenger stop within VERY close walking distance of every Person/Dwelling. )

“In the nineteenth century, they argue, machines replaced artisans and benefited unskilled labor. In the twentieth century, computers replaced middle-income jobs, creating a polarized labor market.”

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2015-06-16/same-it-ever-was