For most of history, parents buried about half their children before fifteen.
Now 96 in 100 make it.
A child born in 1800 could expect fewer than 30 years. One born in 2024 can expect 73.
18 chapters, 26 centuries. The case for the species.
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@Daojoan My grandmother, born 1906, showed me a picture of family of 5 of 6 arranged by height and pointed out a couple of gaps in it - "you expected to lose a couple of kids in those days"
@Daojoan That is at most an expectation that people can live to be 73. You don't know what will happen by then. And given the climate, etc., it seems quite ‘optimistic’ to me.
@Daojoan My grandmother, born 1906, once showed me a picture of her and her 5 or 6 siblings arranged by height and pointed out a couple of gaps in it - "you expected to lose a couple of kids in those days"