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Infant mortality, female childbirth-related mortality, etc most likely skewed the numbers heavily.
There have always ben a certain percentage in any society that made it to their elder years.
Getting there could be an issue, without modern medicine.
See Post#1.
Last edited by Happy in Wyoming; 04-22-2019 at 11:04 AM..
Nothing about that time period sounds fun. Technology is a good thing, not bad.
Intentionally making my life more difficult while restricting what I can do given I'd need to do more myself, instead of relying on infrastructure does not make anyone's life better.
Restoring an 1880 blacksmith's drill adds a great tool that has many uses. Take a good look at the result. It's hand-powered so it works anywhere. It's unfortunate that there's no narration,
I have a post drill, but that's little more than a toy compared to this.
Nothing about that time period sounds fun. Technology is a good thing, not bad.
yes, but when that technology goes down most people cannot survive without it, not in this day and age.
in the past when civilisations collapsed the technology was so simple that the survivors could access their daily needs by their own physical labour and simply wait for "society" to rear its head again no matter how long that took, there aren't many people in the modern world who can do that, once the technology went down they would die.
relying on technology for ones daily survival, even if people don't recognise it as such, isn't so clever.
Just a quick reminder - the first antibiotic medicine, penicillin, was not used in the U.S. until 3/14/1942! Before that, if your body was not strong enough to fight off the disease, you died.
I get my flu shot each year. Each fall, I can't help but remember 1918 - the great flu pandemic. My grandmother lived thru it. No antibiotics! It was a pandemic caused by he H1N1 virus. The records estimate that about 1/3 of the world's population became infected, with about 50 million deaths worldwide. If the virus didn't kill you, there were the side effects - pneumonia, sinus infections, ear infections, myocarditis, encephalitis, myositis, rhabdomyolysis, respiratory and kidney failure. Now, we can treat the side effects; in 1880, we couldn't.
I am aware that the type of flu in circulation may not be included in the shot, but the shot is covered by my insurance, so why not. I get the shot as soon as it becomes available since it takes 2 weeks for the body's defense system to swing into action. If I am exposed to the flu before getting the shot, or during that 2 week period, I could still get the flu. For me, the sooner, the better. My immune system, as well as the rest of me, has aged.
If there is a vaccine for it, I get the shot. For me, it's worth it.
Antibiotics have no effect on the flu. Supportive therapy is still the main way of getting through it. Tamiflu and other anti-virals are little more effective than spit. Pandemics were often fought via isolation and quarantine. That is still good protocol, but society has forgotten how to do it, and the constant interaction in a fast paced area makes it unlikely to be properly implemented and maintained. I dread the thought of a real pandemic in a city.
Also, prior to antibiotics there were herbal remedies that sometimes worked. Oregano, garlic, and other herbs have biocidal properties. They may not be as sure-fire, but the population wasn't completely at risk.
I gave up having the flu jab, must be about 8 years ago, after there was some controversy about what was in it, and I haven't had the flu since, I am fairly anti social anyway and I stay away from public areas during the flu season-which tends to coincide with bad weather anyway.
In your opinion, which of course you are entitled to have. My opinion is that nothing about the time period I am now stuck within sounds very fun. If I could snap my fingers and go back at least 100 years, I would do so in a heartbeat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lekrii
Technology is a good thing, not bad.
Again, your opinion. Although in this case, it is beyond opinion. I think that anyone who can reason such matters out would disagree with such a blanket statement. There is certainly bad/evil technology, or at least technology that is used for bad things.
However, beyond that and going back into the realm of speculation/opinion, I would posit that the cellphone/smartphone could be looked at as one of the most horrendous bits of technology ever devised. In my line of work, I get a chance to observe the younger generation daily. I often think back to the time when I was among the younger generation. I think about the things that my generation spent their time doing. And then I compare that to what I see the kids doing nowadays with a HUGE portion of their time. To an outside observer, which I certainly have become over the past twenty years, it is absolutely clear that nearly an entire generation or two is just as addicted as a heroin addict is addicted. And honestly, I can't see that their addiction to smartphones is much worse than an addiction to heroin would be. Their fundamental thought patterns and brain activity has been altered by this "wonderful" technology. Most are not all that unlike zombies who have very little connection to the real world around them. And worse, the necessity of learning to reason and think independently is gone. They are not all that unlike the "Borg" from the old Star Trek Next Generation series.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lekrii
Intentionally making my life more difficult while restricting what I can do given I'd need to do more myself, instead of relying on infrastructure does not make anyone's life better.
Is having to "do" for oneself really such a bad thing? And if so, is it any better than being dependent on "the collective"? Those of the younger generation have become slaves to technology to a much greater degree than have those from any other generation. Slavery is never a good thing for any being that wishes to be free. My opinion is that there is a happy medium with technology, and that we passed that happy medium a long time ago.
Take for instance, me sitting here typing on this computer keyboard. I used to spend quite a bit of time here on this forum (and others at CD). I don't much anymore. I don't use the computer that much anymore. And to tell you the truth, thinking back to my younger years, I wish I didn't even have the technology as I didn't back then. Going beyond that, I wish there were no telephone/telecommunication technology at all (at least in the form it is today). I'm old enough to have written plenty of letters sent "snail mail." That technology was plenty good for the way I think and view the world. In fact, sitting down and writing a letter was downright therapeutic when compared to the way we communicate these days.
Ultimately, I feel damn lucky to have grown up on the tail end of the best times our world had to offer. I just wish I could have gotten in on more of it before society at large went to hell in a handbasket (as far as runaway technology is concerned). Perhaps in our grand technological crusade, someone will devise a time machine... I'm in, as long as it is a one-way trip and we can be very specific about the time. Say... oh, I don't know... 1880?
once the mains power goes down all that technology will be useless, have you ever looked around and listed just how much of everyday life is dependent on electricity? heating, cooking, lighting, and that's just the start.
a modern lifestyle is impossible without electricity.
yes, but when that technology goes down most people cannot survive without it, not in this day and age.
in the past when civilisations collapsed the technology was so simple that the survivors could access their daily needs by their own physical labour and simply wait for "society" to rear its head again no matter how long that took, there aren't many people in the modern world who can do that, once the technology went down they would die.
relying on technology for ones daily survival, even if people don't recognise it as such, isn't so clever.
*if that technology goes down, not when.
There isn't going to be a massive, system wide collapse that requires people to have to live off the land.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisC
Is having to "do" for oneself really such a bad thing? And if so, is it any better than being dependent on "the collective"? Those of the younger generation have become slaves to technology to a much greater degree than have those from any other generation. Slavery is never a good thing for any being that wishes to be free. My opinion is that there is a happy medium with technology, and that we passed that happy medium a long time ago.
Take for instance, me sitting here typing on this computer keyboard. I used to spend quite a bit of time here on this forum (and others at CD). I don't much anymore. I don't use the computer that much anymore. And to tell you the truth, thinking back to my younger years, I wish I didn't even have the technology as I didn't back then. Going beyond that, I wish there were no telephone/telecommunication technology at all (at least in the form it is today). I'm old enough to have written plenty of letters sent "snail mail." That technology was plenty good for the way I think and view the world. In fact, sitting down and writing a letter was downright therapeutic when compared to the way we communicate these days.
Ultimately, I feel damn lucky to have grown up on the tail end of the best times our world had to offer. I just wish I could have gotten in on more of it before society at large went to hell in a handbasket (as far as runaway technology is concerned). Perhaps in our grand technological crusade, someone will devise a time machine... I'm in, as long as it is a one-way trip and we can be very specific about the time. Say... oh, I don't know... 1880?
People have claimed this about every piece of technology in history, and it's pretty much always just people who are set in their ways being resistant to change.
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