[carlosjobim]

You've been told that life was a constant struggle, you weren't there. Many would say that life today is a constant struggle.

But we have abundant evidence in art, architecture, inventions, and every fruit of human creativity, showing that people weren't in a constant struggle.

Especially, we have evidence in literature from the past, giving a more nuanced picture than that of constant struggle for everyone everywhere.

[bluGill]

Literature only happened in agricultural societies and mostly by the elites. While it gives us a picture historians have to work really hard to read between the lines to figure out what life was really like for most people. If you were the elite in any time your life is much better than typical.

Many would say life is a constant struggle. However few have any clue what others experience is like. Even the filthy rich consider life a struggle.

[carlosjobim]

> Literature only happened in agricultural societies and mostly by the elites.

How far are you going back now? I'm not for groping in the mists of pre-history, when we can read literary descriptions from the last 500 years. That is a more relatable past than the little we can know from ancient days.

> If you were the elite in any time your life is much better than typical.

Yes, and that is just as true today.