It used to take around 20 farmers to support a single non farmers, such as a noble or black smith. We now have many people supported by each farmer in the modern world.

If people are too "nice," we can totally go back to a hunter-gatherer way of life instead of keeping modern institutions alive. I imagine billions would die to get there from here. But, at least we would no longer need to make hard decisions like which poor sucker to fire.