deathless

We are so far from exhausting usable land that this argument is ridiculous. There will be more cities. 3rd tier cities will become 1st tier cities (and probably vice versa). Go invest in a city or town wisely (and don't forget to be lucky!) and you will be rewarded.

It's like saying no one deserves anything but an hourly wage, and damn anyone that actually builds something.

And yeah, it was "easier" yesterday than today, given today's knowledge of the winners. Today is easier than tomorrow, if you know tomorrow's winners.

The internet / pop-culture narrative of "everything is against me, I'm too late, and there's nothing I can do about it" is actually great for people that want to go out and do something about it. The competition is sitting around bitching on Reddit.

> huge penalty

I think it's more like, a few people get the (dubious) bonus of speaking the lingua franca as their mother tongue. (The downside being they almost inevitably only speak the one language).

Calling it an advantage is more correct, as, if US/UK folks disappeared over night, it would still make sense for everyone to learn a shared language for commerce/science/whatever.