I have to disagree here. The carpenter would ultimately had a similar quality of life with empire or without... Life in the west would be very different for sure, but i would not qualify it as worse. Consumerism would be replaced by a far more sustainable lifestyle and we would have replaced our incentives based on GDP long ago, but does not mean less quality of life, just a more just one.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago

I don't think imperialism is a good thing, but it is how empire maintains itself. A more sustainable, equitable, socialist world is possible, capitalism is what perpetuates imperialism.