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The average life expectancy in Thomas Hobbes' days was even less, generally estimated between 35-40. When historians claim that hunter-gatherers generally had
by unscaled 9y ago
The average life expectancy in Thomas Hobbes' days was even less, generally estimated between 35-40.
When historians claim that hunter-gatherers generally had a better life than farmers, they don't have modern urban middle classes typing on their PC in mind as the archetype of hard-up farmers.
It's also worth saying that the Kalahari San probably don't represent a good archetype for hunter-gatherers. They live in a semi-arid savannah, while prehistorical hunter-gatherers generally lived in more abundant areas.
- toasterlovin 9y agoEither you live in an environment that can hardly support human life, in which case the enemy you contend with is nature itself, or you live in an environment which can support abundant human life, in which case the enemy you contend with is other humans. All life expands to fit its ecological niche. For this reason, the only time when life hasn’t been fraught with peril is now; this ephemeral moment in our history when our ability to produce food has exploded at the same time that our fertility rates have collapsed.