[pwdisswordfish9]

Everyone is quick to say something like, "You're not living by the same standards that were the norm 90 years ago." The response is wanting. Notably, it's not the same as saying, "You could work that much if you wanted--so long as you're willing to endure the same living standards as 90 years ago." That doesn't seem to be true; the choice to opt for those standards doesn't seem to be there.

[maximus-decimus]

A good example with cars : GM has been selling a 5K USD EV in China[0] for 5 years, yet in North America the Bolt EV (which I believe is the cheapest EV) starts at 27.5k USD. Sure, the 5K car is a death trap on wheels, but I doubt it's more dangerous than the cars we had 90 years ago.

[0]:https://money.cnn.com/2017/08/07/autos/gm-china-electric-car...

[z3t4]

You set the price as high as you can. The production is highly automated. There is some price elasticity meaning if you lower the prise you would sell more, but you are limited by how many buyers there are on the market.

[akgerber]

I live, in many ways, by the standards of 90 years ago— apartment in a 1907 tenement house (a new law tenement, much better than the old law kind!), no laundry machine, clothing often bought used & which I often repair myself, most transportation on foot or on train/bike for longer distances. I have nicer electronics, of course, but that doesn't consume a big percentage of my income.

But there's no easy way to opt for a four-hour workday, which I would prefer— instead, I save most of my income.

[chii]

But you can't just pick out the bits from the 1900's that you liked, and then abandon the bits you think you dont like, independently of each other.

For example, your nice electronics requires huge, globalized workforce, with perhaps hundreds of thousands of specialties to manufacture. Each of those specialties need the volume and scale to be profitable - so much so that it seems to not consume much of your income (as a rich person in a rich country).

Ditto with healthcare - you will have to abandon the fact that you would have access to it, or in any modern quality.

[pwdisswordfish9]

> you can't just pick out the bits from the 1900's that you liked, and then abandon the bits you think you dont like, independently of each other

Wait a second, sure you can. Why can't you? Your example isn't as good of an example as you think. The rest of the people in the world can hum along on their current trajectory if they want; what do I have to do with the production of those electronics in the hypothetical world? I don't have anything to do with it in the world we're actually in.

[icepat]

I think you may be right, at least in the developed Western nations. However, there are plenty of countries someone could settle in that have less developed infrastructure, and economies. You would be able to live in the same standards as several decades ago if you worked remotely for a small number of hours a day.

I don't mean this to denigrate these countries, but the living standards in some countries are very different. These countries are often "cheap" by Western standards. You could settle in the Balkans, for example, and work a few hours each day, four days a week, and cover expenses very easily with a freelance salary.

I know several Americans who moved to Croatia on DN visas specifically because they could only afford to live there on their freelance salaries.