[nonrandomstring]

Guess we could think of the Giza Pyramids as a counter-example. Plenty of religious monuments got built on the bones of slaves.

But I wonder, factoring out the physical toil, whether future generations might look at giant technological monoliths, maybe The Internet of 2100 and say;

   "Those techies were unhappy slaves. they laboured in basements and
    cubicles. They wrote code just to eat! It was obscenely inhuman."

Or maybe historians might pore through HN archives and say;

   "Those who believed in the Great Singularity", devoted their lives
   out of religious fervour. Many of them wrote code without being
   paid, just because they had a vision. "

Or maybe there will be no trace of us. Anyway, history can tell us facts about what happened, but maybe isn't so good at telling us what went on the minds and dreams of people past.

edit: s/Interest/Internet/g

[penjelly]

> Guess we could think of the Giza Pyramids as a counter-example. Plenty of religious monuments got built on the bones of slaves.

im not arguing it they died during construction. My point is that a lot of them were undoubtedly proud of the work they produced, not even all the workers on the pyramids were slaves so thats pretty telling imo. Also i am one of those "techies" and i have been involved in projects i didnt initially have passion for, and in all cases i ended up coming around because it was something i worked on daily. Thats what im saying happened with the workers in churches/pyramids, surely some of them.

[ttt11199907]

Is this saying that slavery is justified as long as the goal is something "monumental"? As long as some slaves are "proud" of the work they're being _forced_ to do _on penalty of death_ then we can at least rest assured that their pride in humanity was boosted at the amazing spectacle of a giant pile of rocks built on behalf of an oppressor. Oof.