Our Lives Are Not Longer, Only Sicker
TL;DR: "Development" is a euphemism for genocide. See what Survival International has to say about this.
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One trope I hear a lot from defenders of modern civilization is that life expectancy was dreadfully short before the modern period (they're afraid to talk about quality of life so they go for the length argument which seems winnable). Humans only lived to age 30 or something, right?
So in conclusion, even if one could take on faith the claim that infant mortality has been reduced from 20% to 5% due to civilization's latest efforts, that hardly matches the dramatic decrease in the quality of life of these chronically ill children.
P.S. Ancient methods of healing mind & body are only now being re-popularized and "scientifically validated." I double dare you to watch this interview with Wim Hof. Or check out this new, scientifically-validated health-nut trend of "forest bathing."
P.P.S. Even mosquitos may not have bitten us before civilization.
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One trope I hear a lot from defenders of modern civilization is that life expectancy was dreadfully short before the modern period (they're afraid to talk about quality of life so they go for the length argument which seems winnable). Humans only lived to age 30 or something, right?
Well, that's completely false. Human life expectancy has not apparently differed much over the last 2,000 years. The reason the average (the mean, not the median) has changed is supposedly because infant mortality rates have been reduced. But have they?
In fact, infant mortality rates are controversial to calculate even today. Officially, for example, the United States of America ranks near the bottom of the developed countries of the world for infant mortality. But Forbes magazine points out this is due to hidden factors in how countries label deaths of newborns. Were they "stillborn" (miscarriage, natural abortion) or were they "infant mortality"? The answer to that question is not as simple as you might think, and even might depend on how long the baby was measured to be or how much it weighed when it died.
And then there are the folks who say that modern medicine, and especially vaccines, have drastically reduced infant mortality. But studies have shown this is also false. In fact, physicians only began to count infant mortality statistics in the 19th century, and it was not until the 20th century, long after Pasteur's Germ Theory of Disease was entrenched, that pathogens were decided to be a main cause of infant mortality. (N.B. Humans knew about contagious pathogens long before scientists. It's plainly obvious to anyone you can catch diseases from people. But Pasteur and those that followed entrenched the modern notion that pathogens should be entirely avoided or else injected directly into the body instead of building natural immunity by slow exposure to them when one's immune system is working well.)
If we can't even determine what present-day infant mortality rates are in modern industrialized countries, how can we be so sure what they were in history?
Studies have also been done on present-day tribal cultures in Africa who still mostly live the way they did in the past. One study found infant mortality rates that varied from 23.3% all the way down to 2.6% (which is below the infant mortality rate of even the most advanced countries in the world).
And then there are the folks who say that modern medicine, and especially vaccines, have drastically reduced infant mortality. But studies have shown this is also false. In fact, physicians only began to count infant mortality statistics in the 19th century, and it was not until the 20th century, long after Pasteur's Germ Theory of Disease was entrenched, that pathogens were decided to be a main cause of infant mortality. (N.B. Humans knew about contagious pathogens long before scientists. It's plainly obvious to anyone you can catch diseases from people. But Pasteur and those that followed entrenched the modern notion that pathogens should be entirely avoided or else injected directly into the body instead of building natural immunity by slow exposure to them when one's immune system is working well.)
If we can't even determine what present-day infant mortality rates are in modern industrialized countries, how can we be so sure what they were in history?
Studies have also been done on present-day tribal cultures in Africa who still mostly live the way they did in the past. One study found infant mortality rates that varied from 23.3% all the way down to 2.6% (which is below the infant mortality rate of even the most advanced countries in the world).
Another factor to consider is how many pregnancies reach term (birth of a live infant). According to Wikipedia, "Among women who know they are pregnant, the miscarriage rate is roughly 10% to 20%, while rates among all fertilisation is around 30% to 50%."
And finally, most importantly, one must consider the rate of chronic illness among children in modern civilization. Since 1989, with the massive increase in childhood vaccinations, chronic illness in children in the U.S.A. has skyrocketed from 15% to 54%. Now compare that to chronic disease among indigenous African cultures as Dr. Weston A. Price did--your mind will be blown away.
And finally, most importantly, one must consider the rate of chronic illness among children in modern civilization. Since 1989, with the massive increase in childhood vaccinations, chronic illness in children in the U.S.A. has skyrocketed from 15% to 54%. Now compare that to chronic disease among indigenous African cultures as Dr. Weston A. Price did--your mind will be blown away.
It helps if you know how to read between the lines on a nutrition label, but 99.9% of us don't. In addition to the obvious purely modern environmental chemical toxins like pesticides, herbicides, pharma drugs in the water supply, PFAS, and vaccines, another massive consideration is the destruction of the natural electrical field of the Earth, which has happened in six intervals, each of which was accompanied by a supposed "flu" pandemic, as reported in the mostly excellent book, The Invisible Rainbow, by Arthur Firstenberg.
So in conclusion, even if one could take on faith the claim that infant mortality has been reduced from 20% to 5% due to civilization's latest efforts, that hardly matches the dramatic decrease in the quality of life of these chronically ill children.
P.S. Ancient methods of healing mind & body are only now being re-popularized and "scientifically validated." I double dare you to watch this interview with Wim Hof. Or check out this new, scientifically-validated health-nut trend of "forest bathing."
P.P.S. Even mosquitos may not have bitten us before civilization.
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