Energy Slave (1)

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Index Entry

Energy Slave:

"May I mention energy? The energy slave . . . had its roots . . . when I was with Fortune Magazine doing its Tenth Anniversary issue of 1940, we calculated what percentage of the energy of the planet each person has.

“Just 1810, a hundred and fifty years ago, the United States Treasury made the first economic census of America. We had one million families in America in 1810. Shocking figures. We also had one million human slaves in the United States; that is, one per family. There were very,very few families who literally owned those slaves. At that time the Treasury valued the homestead, the average homestead at 350 and the average man slave was worth 400, or $50 more than the homestead. The machine could do some work for you. But there were no tractors, and nothing coming over any wires yet, in 1810. When we talk about energy we mean the ability to do work, the ability to lift one pound one foot and then have foot-pounds per minute. You are trying to describe something acting directly against gravity and mass attraction. So we have the armies of the Earth measuring the capabilities of young human beings to carry loads up mountains, or whatever. Foot-pounds of work for a given amount of energy intake.”

Citations

1. World Game, Jun-Jul’69