What have the Romans ever done for us
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters mostly drop it as a joke when someone downplays the upsides of something, such as a platform, a company or industrialization.
What it is
The classic 'What have the Romans ever done for us?' scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian, in which revolutionaries grudgingly list the benefits of Roman rule. It is a short comedy clip.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2011 to 2016.
What Hacker News said
Cites aw3c2 · 2011-08 · on “Apple changed everything? Yeah, right.”
Because some people might not know the movie and/or get the reference, it is from The Life of Brian, a hilarious comedy from Monty Python. The scene: [this video]
Cites sbuttgereit · 2016-05 · on “Apple, Microsoft, and Google hold 23% of all U.S. corporate cash”
You know when I hear a people speaking like this, I can't help but think about that scene from "The Life of Brian" where the rhetorical question of "What have the Romans ever done for us?!" ( [this video] ) It's terribly simplistic to look only at industrialization problems and completely neglect to acknowledge the upsides. Is there pollution and would I like there to be less, sure. Having said that would I want to give up the safety, food security, medical advances, conveniences, etc. that make life worthwhile so that I could live in pristine, untouched nature? Not a chance. I've life is substantially better because I live in an industrialized society and I'll take the pollution so long as it co