Humans have lived under capitalism for only about 0.1 percent of history.

Evidence

Homo sapiens have been organizing the production of our material conditions for about two hundred thousand years, but industrial capitalism has existed for less than three hundred years. This means that we have lived under capitalism for around 0.1 percent of our history. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 61

Categorization

• SEED: A striking rhetorical datum for an essay or talk: ‘capitalism is a rounding error in human history’ frames any austerity argument as contesting the merely recent.
• XREF: connects to: Industrial capitalism has existed for only 0.1 percent of humanity’s history. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 61; Capitalism’s rupture with older social forms makes their myths undecipherable to us — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 1674

Broader Connections

• Industrial capitalism has existed for only 0.1 percent of humanity’s history. #corroborates (0.98) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 61
• Capitalism’s rupture with older social forms makes their myths undecipherable to us #expands (0.70) — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 1674