Tears for Fears - Closest Thing to Heaven
A key point in Losing My Religions is that there has never been a better time, on average, to be human. E.g., "only about a hundred years ago, being pregnant was about as bad as having breast cancer today. Not back in the Stone Age – in the early 1900s, as documented in Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now."
From here: "about 40% of [humans] who have ever lived died before their first birthday [that is some intelligent design! -ed] and estimates that “life expectancy at birth probably averaged only about ten years for most of human history.” If he’s right, it would mean that 1/10 of all humans age 1 or older who have ever lived are currently alive, and that fraction would become higher and higher as you increase the age. So maybe 1/5 of all 30+ year olds who have ever lived are currently alive and maybe a third of people who ever lived to 60 are still alive. And I’d bet that the majority of people 90 or over who have ever lived are alive right now."
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