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Stickfigurewisdom t1_iznr329 wrote

While I am a fan of humans, nothing illustrates our folly like the centuries it took for us to figure out what to do with our waste. Why did it take so long to bring the toilet to every home? We built thousands of awesome weapons during those ages, but 100 years ago many people were still pooping in buckets. My theory is that the Church had something to do with it.

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shantipole t1_izpluwk wrote

Indoor toilets require water on demand in every home, which is a VERY recent innovation around the world. You use the water both to flush waste but also as a barrier between the sewer pipes and the home, to prevent odors and flammable/explosive sewer gas from entering (a modern toilet is also a nontrivial industrial product--large, reliable metal and porcelain castings are relatively recent, too). Until you can use water to remove the waste, a bucket with a tight lid is the best option (aka a chamberpot) followed by an outside bucket with a door (aka an outhouse).

Also, seriously, how could the Church have possibly caused this? The majority of the world that's not Christian had and has the same waste removal strategies.

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iamnotfromthis t1_iznx5q8 wrote

I mean the answer is much more complex than I am capable of putting into words, but remember romans had very adequate waste management, and native people in the americas never had a human waste issue like the europeans.

The modern toilet is a fairly new invention, but so is the whole notion of privacy, medieval people in general did not expect nor wished for complete privacy, wealthy or not.

It is also worth mentioning that the notion of cleanliness varied greatly from our modern understanding, people were more concerned about odors and "humors" and bacteria and infectious diseases were not properlly understood.

I believe it all led to mismanadgement. I believe the catholic church did play a role with their concept that bathing was bad, and the whole exarcerbated villification of the human body in general.

I'm sorry I don't have a definitive answer but I hope I may have beem able to present a few points of consideration.

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Stickfigurewisdom t1_iznykxf wrote

They had something like indoor plumbing in the Indus Valley as well, centuries ago, but it seems like someone somewhere would’ve done something. We hear stories that you could smell London from miles away, and that if you went to the Louvre you ran a risk of stepping in human poo. But people just kept crapping in buckets? Its madness.

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iamnotfromthis t1_iznzz4o wrote

This certainly sparked my interest in the subject, I'll search for books about this, a documentary on the history of human waste management would not be pleasant to watch for me at least lol

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Stickfigurewisdom t1_izodm0i wrote

Please keep me posted on what you learn! I wonder if, when the indoor toilet was finally presented, everyone said something like, “why would I buy that when I have a perfectly good bucket that my dad and grandad used!” 😂🤣

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