I posted that as reminder that things used to be a lot worse then
they are now. We have made social progress. There is no reason to
think we will not continue to make more progress.
When I read about all the awful things in the past it is sobering,
naturally, but it tends to make me more optimistic, not less.
By the way, the use of "peer review" in this title is not meant as a
joke. The weaving guild was a peer-review association similar to
modern academic peer-review groups, in good ways and bad ones. Guilds
did help assure good quality work and education across generations.
Buildings constructed in 1800 would not still be standing today if it
were not for guilds. They preserved and transmitted knowledge in ways
that we could use today even in fields such as computer software
today, where I sometimes get the impression that the lessons of how
to do things right are forgotten every 10 years. As economic and
technical change accelerated, and capitalism developed, the benefits
of the guild system faded. Heilbroner says the guilds and feudal
privileges were abolished in France in 1790 (during the revolution)
and in England in 1813.
Some guild practices such as apprenticeship survive today in Germany
and elsewhere.
- Jed
