Transcript - Izzit.org

More documents

Recommendations

Info

A Life Worth Living MAN: You know, I’ve been thinking… WOMAN: Oh, yes, and what have you been thinking MAN: Well, I’ve been thinking… that it’s thinking that got us where we are today. WOMAN: Hmm, I followed the first bit about your having been thinking again, but I got lost on the second bit of thinking MAN: Well, just look at our village today. WOMAN: Yes, so I’m looking… MAN: What can you see WOMAN: Well, I can see a group of people who aren’t exactly living off the fat of the land- but who are doing very nicely, thank you. MAN: Right…and how did this happen when not all that long ago, we lived in a subsistence economy WOMAN: Oh, I see what you mean – you mean which pieces of thinking- which ideas took us from one level of prosperity to another MAN: Right! WOMAN: Right. Hmmm. It’s quite simple, really. Subsistence is the economy we started out withand a surplus is what we’ve got now. And the way we got from one to the other was by specialization and by mechanization, sometimes a bit of one, sometimes a bit of the other, and sometimes a bit of both. MAN: Do you remember what it was like living in a subsistence economy WOMAN: Oh, how could I ever f<strong>org</strong>et MAN: We used to spend all our time and energy just getting ourselves enough food to say alive. And there was never anything left over. And then we discovered division of labor by product. WOMAN: Oh, yes, what a day that was! MAN: It certainly was! We divided labor by product which just meant that instead of every family doing everything for itself: one family specialized in sheep, one in cattle… WOMAN: …and another specialized in fish… MAN: …another in tailoring and cloth-making… WOMAN: …uh-huh…that was us. 20
MAN: Yes, and as a result: eight families produced enough to feed ten, which left two families with nothing to do. So, they built the bridge which took our cattle across to new pastures, and then they had time to dig the irrigation channel, which took the water to more of our crops. Do you remember what happened then WOMAN: Yes, then came division of labor by process. Until then, to make anything one person had always done everything. I used to do everything: from shearing the sheep, to weaving the cloth – one process after another. It was slow…and I wasn’t very good at all of it. MAN: So, we decided to specialize in one process each. WOMAN: Hmm. One did all the shearing… MAN: …another- the washing… WOMAN: …yeah… another- the spinning… MAN: …another did the dyeing… WOMAN: …another- the weaving… MAN: …another- the finishing. WOMAN: And the result was: that the same amount of people produced twice as many shawls by working together-one process each, as they would have done making complete shawls by themselves. MAN: And, what’s more, the shawls were much better-made. WOMAN: Oh, thank you very much! Anyway, that’s how we left our subsistence economy behind to produce our surplus. It was our first great idea – we specialized…we specialized by product, we specialized by process – and our second great idea was- we mechanized. MAN: We had ideas for new devices, and we had ideas to harness horses and oxen. In our family’s caseour greatest idea for mechanization, and our most useful device was the wheel. WOMAN: Oh yeah, you can say that again! The wheel meant that the children could bring home in one go what would previously have taken you or me six journeys. Do you remember that day when you thought of saving your own strength by letting the animals do the work for you MAN: Oh, ho, ho, yes! What a great day that was! WOMAN: Yes! MAN: Animal muscle power - but it was nothing compared to what’s happened since we discovered how to harness the forces of nature. WOMAN: Yes, there was the energy of wind… MAN: …and the energy of water… 21
Page 1 and 2: TRANSCRIPT 2002 Filmore Avenue Erie
Page 3 and 4: MAN: And everybody seems to be depe
Page 5 and 6: MAN: Don’t worry. It’s bound to
Page 7 and 8: Division of Labor 1: Product MAN: U
Page 9 and 10: WOMAN: The Tailors. MAN: Right! WOM
Page 11 and 12: Division of Labor 2: Process MAN: G
Page 13 and 14: MAN: He says a trader is somebody w
Page 15 and 16: TRADER: Oh, champion. WOMAN: There
Page 17 and 18: WOMAN: And we even managed to put s
Page 19: WOMAN: It adds up to a surplus. The
Page 23 and 24: MAN: And for all but a few thousand
Page 25 and 26: WOMAN: And they spent all those eve
Page 27 and 28: MAN: Remember that first day The Fi
Page 29 and 30: Money MAN: It worked very well at f
Page 31 and 32: MAN: …time and energy which we ou
Page 33 and 34: MAN: To stop that, they specially m
Page 35 and 36: MAN: Trouble was they were just lik
Page 37 and 38: MAN: And there we were at the end o
Page 39 and 40: Supply, Demand and Price 2. Price a
Page 41 and 42: WOMAN: Yet, the surprising thing wa
Page 43 and 44: MAN: The higher the price offered,
Page 45 and 46: MAN: But would you believe it They
Page 47 and 48: everything. And we saw how hardship

Transcript - Izzit.org

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?