by Patrick Appel
Drum asks:
If you could be transported back to 1900 with your current income, would you take the deal? The answer is almost certainly no. Sure, your current income would go a hell of a long way in 1900, but you'd still swelter in the summer because all the money in the world couldn't buy you an air conditioner. Ditto for plane travel, penicillin, automobiles, etc. etc. Even with a lot of money, 1900 looks pretty crappy.
The harder question:
[W]ould you take the same deal if you could be transported back to 1973?
Again, your income would go a lot further (about 5x further, in fact), which means you'd be pretty well off ... Obviously you'd miss your cell phone and the internet and your HD television with 300 channels. But a car would still basically be a car, and interstate highways are about the same as now. Ditto for plane travel, antibiotics, air conditioners,
etc. etc. So what do you say?