Who lives a better quality of life: A 16th century English king or an American making 35,000 a year?

The college grad, and would avoid the plague of modern medicine, aka Pasteur's fallacies.

You could cut the salary well below $35000 and still live better than Henry VIII or Edward VI. You would not have the social prestige or psychological benefits of being king, which isn't chopped liver, but your level of day-to-day physical comfort would be much better in the modern world.

akkakal@akkaka.net wrote:

You could cut the salary well below $35000 and still live better than Henry VIII or Edward VI. You would not have the social prestige or psychological benefits of being king, which isn't chopped liver, but your level of day-to-day physical comfort would be much better in the modern world.

Bingo. A good attack of appendicitis would decide you in favor of the modern day.

Also, nowadays your kids would have a very good chance at growing to adulthood. In the 16th century, not so much--royal or not.

The king. And the availability of women would be the main thing.

The lack of "modern conveniences" is not such a drawback. Do you think people alive even as late as the 1980s were somehow miserable because they didn't have computers or cell phones?

Don't think I could deal with the unsanitary conditions back then. They must have been crapping their pants every other day.

Of course not, but if I had to choose between the two lifestyles knowing what each one had to offer I would choose the modern one.

The availability of women I think is really getting over blown here and should not make up for all the conveniences and luxuries that we have in the 21st century. The vast majority of young men today should be able to get some kind of action, albeit not as much as a 16th century king. However the women that the modern young man is getting to have intercourse with is much better looking than a 16th century English woman.

Wealth is relative. This is the basis of capitalism as there are easily enough resources for everyone to live like a rich man

The king beats the college guy easy. A computer is not going to be misssed if you have never seen one. Thinking about what crap I'm doing now it would be better if they were not around

If I could be king today I sure as wouldn't go forward in time to $35000 a year star trek life. You would only pick being a nobody today because you are too familiar with it and would miss your friends not because you will miss your gadgets.

It's not even close, I would much rather be a guy making 35,000 today.

The average,and even below average, salary earner in this country is living such a high quality and interesting life that kings that lived even in the 19th century would have been jealous of us. In today's world you have access to foods, literature, entertainment and clothing from every corner of the world with a click of a mouse. You can go into a local 24 hour CVS and find a solution to most common sicknesses that would have caused insurmountable pain in the 16th century. And with modern transportation you are able to travel anywhere you want in a relatively comfortable environment in less than 24 hours. I'm not even going to get into the obvious advantages of modern medicine compared to 16th century medicine.

This hypothetical man making 35,000 a year is living a life today that kings even one hundred years ago would be envious of but modern people have become a bit jaded and spoiled so we tend romanticize the lifestyle of groups like 16th century royalty.

This King is from close to the era you are talking about. The modern college grad seems to have a slight edge.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/03/world/europe/richard-iii-search-announcement/index.html

It's not even close wrote:

I'm not even going to get into the obvious advantages of modern medicine compared to 16th century medicine.

Sure if I knew I was inbred and have deformities live a terrible painful life of course I would choose a unsick life today. I would pick ANY time period where I was not sick all the time. For a healthy male king the world is your oyster where money and rules is no barrier. Its like a bird in a cage. Soon they do not even want to come out even when the cage is open. Its okay you can get familiar with anything but I am sure once you go king you can't go back.

A lot of kings hated it. Haven't you ever seen Roman Holiday? What the f*ck would I want to be king for anyway? I don't like lording it over people.

If you do not like the celebrity part of it or ordering people what to do that is another matter. I probably would not either, but for freedom to do whatever I want I may just be able to tolerate it.

IKR wrote:

Absolute vs relative wealth. Hard question; I would pick the person living in 2014 since you wouldn't die at age 40.

dat infant mortality rate bias doe

Not a lot being said here about the stress of being king. Like you have to make sure a nation is running.

That said I would love all the sex.

The OP got the hilarity started off by asking the question and then referencing having TV, a computer, and a car as the hallmarks of the quality life. Boy that was funny. Not saying these are bad inventions - they certainly allow us to do new types of things, but in general they don't really increase quality of life at all. For those of you talking about oh the great conveniences of modern life make life so wonderful, think about it for a moment. Would you say your happiest and greatest times were sitting in front of a screen? Probably not. God I hope not! Probably the are mostly forgettable.

And obviously if you become seriously ill living in the modern world would be better because you are many times more likely to survive now than a King would then. Most people are just mentioning medicine. Since the question is would each of us personally rather be the college grad or the King, I can say for myself that I'm a healthy adult and have never seriously been ill. Meaning my life has never been in danger if not for modern medicine. So as compelling as the whole modern health appeal is, and while most likely I would die younger as the King than as the college grad, better than not chances I've got at least a few decades to live as King.

So, which would I rather be, a King who can travel and do as he pleases, or a college grad working 9 to 5 with short breaks in-between called weekends in which I get to go and do as I please. Yeah I'll take the Kingdom, thanks. As I attend the finest festivals and feasts and celebrations, converse with the most interesting people in my Kingdom at my choosing, travel in grand caravans with my friends and family and servants, have my pick of the women, freely travel around my Kingdom and any Kingdoms of my allies receiving great respect and admiration (whether honest or acted) wherever I go, and enjoy the other perks of royalty I can tell you one thing I wouldn't be doing: wishing I was sitting in my room watching hours of TV or staring at a computer screen or driving a car around. Case closed.

Its not that. It's all the little shit. Things like clean water, the ability to take hot showers, having your home at a comfortable temperature year round. Not essentially living in feces.

Not to mention the variety you have access to in the modern world. You can pretty much drive into down and eat pretty good food of any quality you want. 1500s...not so much. As the King you are limited to some local travel around your Kingdom with travel that would likely be pretty unpleasant. In modern society you can literally visit anywhere in the world with the slight uncomfort of being on a plane for 8-12 hours.

You say you are disease free, but that is largely a product of...the modern world. Fact is hygiene then was beyond atrocious. Cities were often, literally, shities. You didn't have running water so stuff just decayed. Disease easily spread through populations and being the King didn't protect you from that.

That only scrapes the surface. I think you gave no real thought to just how pervasive modern society is in relation to our modern lifestyles and comforts.

King.

Sure, why not? wrote:

Modern day American would be worth it for dental hygiene and vaccines alone.

Anyone who would want to live before anaesthesia is an idiot.