.

Peace has cost you your strength, victory has defeated you.

- Bane (Dark Knight Rises)

Did authors before the printing era ever made benefits from their books?

Also, after inventing the printing press, when did they start making profits?

Bot:
الكتاب كانوا مأجورين ويكتبون لصالح الملوك والامراء، يوكلوهم بوظيفة كتب كتاب معين ويدفعولهم بالنهاية.
او يكتب لصالح مؤسسة چبيرة وياخذ عليها راتب مثل الفاتيكان

So it’s either patronage or being a wagie

"أقلام مأجورة"

.

The mayflower at sea

In some circumstances, too much thinking may be far less advantageous than no thinking at all. That is the beauty of how emotion has functioned throughout evolution: it allows the possibility of making living beings act smartly without having to think smartly. In humans, however, this story has become more complicated, for better and for worse. Reasoning does what emotions do but achieves it knowingly. Reasoning gives us the option of thinking smartly before we act smart, and a good thing too: it is apparent that the emotions alone can solve many—but not all—the problems posed by our complex environment and that, on occasion, the solutions offered by emotion are actually counterproductive.

- Descartes' Error, by Antonio Damasio

إذا قيلَ في الحاجاتِ "مَهلًا إلى غَدِ"
فَذاكَ يَكُن طردًا لِمَن كانَ عارِفِ

أُعاتِبُكم وأُعلِمُكُم بِوَجدي
وقَلبي عِندَكُم والجِسمُ عندي

وما قَصدي أُفارِقُكُم ولكن
قضاءُ اللهِ يَغلِبُ كُلَّ عَبدِ

سافِر تَجِد عِوَضًا عمَّن تفارِقُهم
وانصَب فإنّ لَذيذَ العَيشِ في النَصَبِ

ما في المَقامِ أرى عِزًا ولا إرَبًا
مِن غُربَةٍ فَدَعِ الأوطانَ واغتَرِبِ

إني رأيتُ وقوفَ الماءِ يُفسِدُه
إنْ ساحَ طابَ وإنْ لَم يَجرِ لَم يَطِبِ

والشَمسُ لو وَقَفَت في الفُلكِ دائمةً
لَمَلَّها الخَلقُ مِن عَجمٍ ومِن عَرَبِ

والبَدرُ لولا أُفولٌ مِنهُ ما نَظَرَت
إليهِ في كُلِّ حينٍ عَينُ مُرتَقِبِ

والأسدُ لولا فِراقُ الغابِ ما افتَرَسَت
والسَهمُ لولا فِراقُ القَوسِ لَم تُصِبِ

والتِبرُ كالتُربِ مُلقىً في معادِنِه
والعودُ في أرضِه نَوعٌ مِنَ الحَطَبِ

- ألف ليلة وليلة

“Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.”

Alfred North Whitehead

In other words: civilization is a complex machine that needs increasing levels of efficiency to keep up advancing. Therefore: progress is bound up with efficiency, and efficiency is crippled by complexity and scarcity.