Samo Burja

It is something of a possibility.

So I think the classic arguments about the Protestant work ethic endure.

However, I think they endure because there was first a religious belief that, okay, it's important to do your work well.

It's vocation from God.

If you're doing really well materially while doing the vocation that, you know, God selected for you, that might be a sign that you are elect.

You're very much nervous about whether you are one of the elect.

So one of the people that are predestined, you know, to be saved.

But then even as society secularized, the material rewards of working very hard started compounding.

So I sort of think that in a way, the fact that, you know, America was started as a more Protestant, almost Calvinist country or a Puritan country to take a slightly different strain.

that was reinforced.

It was important for the emergence of capitalism.

I think capitalism itself prolonged it right and developed it further.

I think today people work hard on the vague assumption that, you know, it's going to work out for you, right?

The whole land of opportunity mythos, which was also true for most of the 20th century, arguably still true in the 21st century here in San Francisco.

You know, I think that has long ago secularized and it's sustained by, you know, the facts of economic growth.

Well, the conclusion from this that I would draw regarding China is that if you want to think about China today, maybe you should think about 1950s America.

For most Chinese people alive today, their life has just gotten a little bit better and they've become a little bit richer every single year for the last 45 years.

And many families are now buying their first car.

The living space allotted has increased.

I think recently they surpassed some of the lower ranking European countries and, you know, average urban living space, which, again, makes sense, right?