Thursday, October 1, 2026
The winter edition of The New Atlantis includes an essay by Charles C. Mann entitled, “We Live Like Royalty and Don’t Know It.” It is an introduction to a series about the under-appreciated achievements of modern infrastructure.
“Jefferson was one of the richest men in the new United States” he writes. “He had a 5,000-acre plantation worked by hundreds of slaves, a splendid mansion in Virginia ... But despite his wealth and status his home was so cold in winter that the ink in his pen sometimes froze, making it difficult for him to write to complain about the chill.”
“Jefferson was rich and sophisticated, but his life was closer to the lives of people in the Iron Age than it was to ours.”
In our day, staying warm usually means adjusting the thermostat, not felling trees, cutting them into firewood, and tending a fire. Watering our gardens means turning on a faucet, not digging a well, or hauling water from a spring, or figuring out how to store water for late summer when the well or the spring goes dry.
These systems — our electrical grid, our systems for providing gas or electrical power for our cars, our immensely complex ways of moving water from its source to our sinks — they are, to be sure, marvels of human engineering and ingenuity. So are our systems for managing our amazing amounts of waste.
Our food production and distribution systems are vast, complex, and capable of delivering immense abundance for all. We have lively debates about their methods, environmental impacts, food ingredients, and treatment of animals. Then we sit down to dinner.
Very few of us know how all these big systems work, and nearly all of us take most of them for granted. It’s likely that the majority of Americans are almost completely unaware of them.
Only when they become controversial — like our public health system has this past year — do most people take notice.
Today, people with modest incomes live in far greater ease and comfort than most of our ancestors, but our economic system often inhibits the “for all” capacity of these systems. Unemployment, low wages, childhood trauma, and inadequate education trap millions of people in poverty in every generation.
Still, the vast majority of us are well fed, warm in winter and comfortable in summer. We drink clean water and pour it on our plantings. We also have historically unprecedented mobility on government-built highways, railroads, ferries and aviation systems.
Even so, right now our lives feel tense and insecure. We’re confronting climate change and natural disasters, rising prices, political division and instability, and the frightening rise around the globe of the most bigoted and authoritarian forms of nationalism. We are seeing way too much of the dark side of human nature.
It’s not surprising that many of us are discouraged or scared. But thinking about the evolution of our infrastructure shows us the brighter side of our nature.
Our vast electrical grid is a powerful example of cooperation and coordination for the public good that has taken place over many generations. People all over our country can light up a room with the flick of a finger on a little switch. And if a storm knocks the power out, skilled people rush to fix it. Though we’re hardly aware of it, we take care of each other by funding, regulating, engineering, building and maintaining big systems like this.
Some systems or parts of systems are private, profit-making projects; others are governmental. Somehow, people make them all fit together.
These big systems remind us of our national aptitude for innovation, and even more important, our capacity to create and sustain systems that aim to work for everyone. We can do this. This year, we can elect leaders who will help.
One result we’ve already achieved: our ink will not freeze. No matter how cold it gets, we can use the power of the pen.
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OldKid
Happy 2026, Jill!
Your grand grasp of language, merged with your clear vision of life in these times, enriches us all. Yes, even the poorest of us are living in luxury, compared to our pioneers.
Thanks for bringing this to the surface. In today's society, we'd all be happier if we acknowledge our good fortune and live with appreciation.
As a kid of the '50's, I've seen life when the night sky lit magically with the Milky Way, so there were ways back then to feel enriched, though luxuries were few. Because money was scarce, we appreciated everything we did have so much more. Eating out, in our family, was reserved for celebrating a birthday or my parent's anniversary. Such a rare, magical excitement for us! We kids got to choose A gift for Christmas and were thrilled to receive it.
Another contrast between now and then: most of us were in similar circumstances. All of us pinched our pennies and saved until we could afford what we needed. And, everything was so appreciated!
Growing up in those frugal days has made me a lifetime minimalist. And, a great appreciator of thrift stores.
So, make 2026 the year for appreciating the luxuries of today's everyday life. It will leave us more energized for the battle to bring our country back to the basics: kindness, empathy, appreciation for all.
Friday, January 2 Report this
PegGerdes
It is so easy to take it all for granted, without thought. Our infrastructure is "boring" and absolutely ESSENTIAL. Thank you for reminding us to notice, to think, and to appreciate!
Saturday, January 3 Report this
Snevets
Thank you Jill for the history and reminders going into 2026.
Saturday, January 3 Report this
marygentry
Thanks Jill for reminding us of the things we take for granted. When we were without power for several days, I was struck with what a miracle electricity is when the lights came back on andI could read comfortably again. Having a wood stove and a generous supply of wood was additional cause for gratitude. Developing the habit of gratitude will surely enhance every aspect of our lives. I'm grateful for insightful writers like you. I'm sure many of your readers are as well.
Mary Gentry
Sunday, January 4 Report this