> From: Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > From: "The Tawny Man" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > From: Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > > But, I still wonder if I can make the list more hospitable to new > > posters > > > without giving up what I like about it. I know I won't let opinions > > like > > > "slavery had nothing to do with the War Between the States" go > > unchallenged. > > > > It was a war between memes (paradigms). In the north was the Industrial > > machine that paid workers virtually nothing. In the south was Slave > > machine that paid workers nothing. > > > > You looking for trouble boy? :-) > > A quick bit of data that is inconsistant with this viewpoint is found at > > http://www.friesian.com/stats.htm > > > which shows that the US was >80% rural in 1860. > > I remember one number from Ken Burn's "The Cival War" when he discussed ^^^^^ > how that war changed the North. IIRC, there were only 3 foundaries > in Cleveland before the war, and over 30 after. (The last number is > a bit hazy, but it was lots more than 3).
It was coming. It had already come in Europe, especially Britain. The civil war helped it come about faster. One of the main obstacles was the expensive slave workers of the south. Consider the new slave: You pay him next to nothing, he does more work more willingly, you can treat him almost as badly, he's cheap, expendable, and replaceable. A slave was an investment, a worker was extremely less important. I don't think Lincoln freed the slaves out of the goodness of his heart, or the rightness. He did it as an expediency. His main concern was keeping the union together. An aside, this is parallel to what is happening today with computers / technology. Computers and simple robots are replacing more and more jobs. As time goes on more and more jobs will require a higher level of education, as technology does what a worker once did, only better, and cheaper. Ob-Jordan: In 100 years there will be very few jobs that computers and technology don't do 100x better[*], This I foretell. * Politics (that vileness), some theoretical math stuff, art, peotry, fiction, clerics, etc.
