I am trying to describe the nature of humans, not prescribe their morality. That something is natural does not make it right. - Matt Ridley

Just as human nature is the same everywhere, so it is recognizably the same as it was in the past.

The cornucopia that greets you as you enter the supermarket dwarfs anything that Louis XIV ever experienced (and it is probably less likely to contain salmonella).

With increasingly money-based interactions among strangers, people increasingly began to think of neighbours as potential trading partners rather than potential prey. Killing the shopkeeper makes no sense.