It is. A king could have 5,000 serfs and hey that's a lot of serfs. But it's nothing compared to tens of billions of dollars in an economy where most people make 35K a year. And serfs were not hot-swappable cogs like workers effectively are today. Losing a serf was a non-fungible, tangible loss.

It's apples to oranges comparing medieval feudalism to modern global capitalism, I think it's folly trying to say one is "better", but the scale of the latter certainly dwarfs the former into barely perceiveable insignificance.

[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Elon Musk's net worth is about the lifetime earnings of 280,000 people.

[–] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I wasn't trying to argue either of them being "better". I just presented kings vs serfs as an example of obvious wealth disparity in history, but I could have equally said roman emperor and roman slave, of which the difference in wealth would be, well, infinite really.

[–] infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 6 points 2 weeks ago

I know you weren't, but if I didn't put that disclaimer there someone would will themselves into thinking I was because this is the internet.