The Robinson Crusoe Standard
A test for civilizational validity: society must offer everyone at least the life they could have built for themselves alone in the woods.
I'd like to propose a general rule for social systems which I call The Robinson Crusoe Standard.
The Robinson Crusoe Standard: society must offer every member at least the life they could have made for themselves outside it. A person who shows up and participates (works, obeys laws, pays taxes) should never end up with less than what they would've been able to make for themselves out alone in the woods.
We have a good idea of what that looks like. People have been running this experiment since the dawn of time: a few acres of rural land, an owner-built cabin, a well, a garden, a barn, some animals.
That is what minimum wage must be able to buy you. If it can't buy you what you could've gotten ten thousand years ago for free, then what is the point of all that we have built?
The Robinson Crusoe Standard is a test for Civilizational Validity.