• harvesting more food in a day than 100 slaves could produce all season long.
  • keeping my family comfortable by warming up the house -- without having to chop wood and breathe ashes.
  • cooling off the house with the push of a button
  • getting my teeth cleaned with sound, filling cavities with xylocaine
  • traveling on a 4-lane highway, arriving at my destination hours, maybe days, before I would have in 1804
  • flying in a Boeing 757
  • living safely in a home that can withstand a moderate earthquake or severe storm
  • having pure drinking water available with the twist of a wrist
  • keeping food fresh with refrigeration
  • having hot water available at all times, for only pennies
  • enjoying good health with the help of antibiotics
  • enjoying the benefits of instant electricity
  • doing more and producing more with gasoline engines
  • completing assignments, making calculations, designing buildings, learning about the world around me, aided by computers
  • watching a NASCAR race
  • learning and being entertained by television; seeing important events around the world as they happen
  • tampons
  • The Division of Labor: specializing in the production of one item and being able to chose from 50,000 items made by others and sold at Wal-Mart.
  • eradicating diseases like smallpox, polio, with vaccines
  • preparing food quickly with microwave ovens
  • watching the Lord of Rings (the movie) in Dolby® stereo
  • watching Alabama (the band) in the front row of an arena with 10,000 other fans
  • eradicating pests and disease with DDT
  • bringing a symphony orchestra into my living room with a stereo CD.
  • increased leisure time
  • steel pipes and purification systems which remove human waste from the streets
  • steel automobiles which eliminate animal waste from the streets
  • sleeping on a visco-elastic foam mattress
  • cell phones
  • glad I don't have to wear corsettes
  • end of government-enforced segregation