jah05r

jah05r t1_itvj15q wrote

Mostly because everything from availability of calories to quality of sanitation to quality of shelter to near-universal vaccination in today’s society is leaps and bounds better than it was in Hunter-gatherer days.

4

jah05r t1_itv6ct3 wrote

Sanitation was absolutely a lifestyle change. Things like washing your hands and bathing regularly were nowhere close to standard practice until quite recently.

And the reason it seems like farmers shrank in size is because so many more of them lived into old age. You no longer had to be the biggest or strongest to survive, and the extraordinary steps that Hunter-gatherers took to control population size (aka infanticide) were no longer necessary because enough food was available for a larger population.

Do you honestly think calories were more accessible to Hunter-gatherers than they are now?

10

jah05r t1_itv35hi wrote

They are absolutely lifestyle adoptions. The widespread adoption of sanitation practices (especially clean drinking water) is the single most important lifestyle adoption we have made. Farming is a close second, which has both increased the food supply consistency and resulted in less dangerous behaviors.

20

jah05r t1_itv1l2z wrote

Oh, that is total nonsense. People today are much, much healthier than they were in our Hunter-gatherer state. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have room for improvement or that every change made resulted in improved health.

55