Dice Walter Block en Defending the Undefendable

Me resulta muy difícil de entender que haga falta seguir explicando cuestiones tan obvias:

Trade, we believe, outstrips fire, the wheel, and the opposable thumb in explaining man’s superiority over the animals. For it and it alone makes specialization and the division of labor possible.

In their daily lives people consume virtually hundreds of thousands of different items every year. If not for specialization, each person would be forced to manufacture these items by himself.

This would be an impossible task. As a matter of fact, people would not even be able to produce enough food for themselves, let alone produce all other goods which they might desire. Efficient production of food involves the production of many other things, including capital equipment. The production of these things would involve every person in the manufacture of all the items that are now distributed over an entire population.

It is quite true that without fire, the wheel, and opposable thumbs, mankind would find itself in a sorry state indeed. But without specialization, since it would be impossible for virtually anyone to even feed himself, everyone would be faced with the prospect of starvation and death.