News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says. Parent comment

Re:Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction,... by RcouF1uZ4gsC on Monday May 06, 2019 @04:25PM (#19843449)
>My assessment is that life has been pretty good for the average human regardless of the time period.

Here is where we fundamentally disagree. My assessment looking at history is that life for the average human, especially, the average female human, was horrible. I would guess our current 10th percentile is better off than the 50% percentile in the past.

The average human was a farmer. They had to do hours of back-breaking labor. They were many times just a bad harvest away from starving. They were routinely preyed on by the more powerful. A significant portion had personally lost a child/spouse/parent due to childbirth. They were illiterate. Child marriages and involuntary marriages were the general rule. The distinction between you and elite was directly coded into law.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction,... by ionised on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @06:27AM (#19848062)
A lot of what you are talking about here is still the case in much of the world. In other parts of the world where it is no longer true, it will absolutely make a comeback unless we can halt and reverse the damage being done by the levels of inequality we have.
[ Parent | on HN ]