# Age of Invention: The Paradox of Progress

![rw-book-cover](https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0eace48e-6869-4450-8326-641b552829ec_763x707.jpeg)

## Metadata
- Author: [[Anton Howes]]
- Full Title: Age of Invention: The Paradox of Progress
- Category: #articles
- URL: https://antonhowes.substack.com/p/age-of-invention-the-paradox-of-progress

## Highlights
- An average, “respectable” eighteenth-century English labourer household would spend about 75-85% of their income on food and drink alone, with much of it going just to bread. Today, we only spend about 10% on food, even though our overall expenditure on food has increased dramatically, while we also spend on a mind-boggling variety of things like flat whites, pumpkin spice, matcha tea, and avocado toast.