@bob Thats not accurate though, money has existed for thousands of years, being paid to do a job has existed for just as long, and we all know slavery was popular for thousands of years too. All the points you claim are recent "money, wage, slavery, etc" are all ancient and wide spread.

@freemo It's a common myth. Money has existed for the last few thousand years, but was only actually used by a tiny minority of the population - merchants, aristocrats, etc. Mass literacy and numeracy are very modern phenomena.

Until quite recently in historical terms most people lived as subsistence farmers on land which we would now call a commons. They didn't sell their labor to anyone.

@bob Even the farmers still bought their tools and their clothes from vendors. Most used some form of currency to do this. You could argue much less so then modern day farmers perhaps, but the capitalism was always there. Capitalism isnt about the quantity of money exchanged, but rather the free market which allows you to do so. If fewer people participate in the free market it isnt any less of a capitalism, not unless that effect is brought about through some sort of regulation.

TL;DR even farmers had money.

@freemo @bob And money isn't required to have capital, before money people would just exchange goods. You don't need coins to buy a new tool for your farm, the smith will gladly accept a chicken instead.

@nerthos
Very true, even barter systems are still technically capitalism

@bob

@freemo @bob And barter systems go way back, since as soon as you have a community, you need distribution of tasks, and if you distribute tasks, then some individuals will have things due to the tasks they perform that others don't have and need.

@nerthos
Yup, in fact unless something is specifically in place to prevent capitalism it is the default mode any society tends to operate on.
@bob