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Comment by CookieCrisp

5 hours ago

What did people do 500 years ago?

Die as a child at alarming rates

  • But those who did not, got quite old without ever seeing a doctor.

    (If we are talking about hunter gatherers, not poor exploited peasants)

    • Humans have assisted each other medically, supported injured and disabled tribe members, and sought out medicinal herbs since long before history was written. I'm not sure how you'd delineate between modern health care and when humans never had some notion of health care and/or support when bodies enter failure modes. We don't survive well without a lot of assistance and care, and living long lives required plenty of bodily maintenance regardless of how fortunate and healthy we were.

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