Trying to get to the healthy wealthy corner

Cool! Thanks for that, Burritos. I suspect that antibiotics, and understanding of sanitation (don't shit in your drinking water) are responsible for much of the increased life expectancy. When the germs catch up and antibiotics no longer work, we may see a fearful drop, however.

 

Brilliant!

Who says good news is boring. Wow.

The other good news is that computer technology makes these kinds of presentations involving overwhelming quantities of data accessible to any scientist/educator so that important but complex issues get wide visibility.

Many thanks!

 

Brilliant, I agree. Also fascinating and encouraging. Bravo, Mr. Rosling.

 

Probably not very insightful, but my take is that an understanding of germs, along with municipal sanitation and antibiotics is what has increased life expectancy.

Industrialization has raised the standard of living in the developed countries, but the apparent rise in poor countries is largely an artifact: A subsistence farmer has zero income but an adequate diet, and lives in sparsely-populated regions where disease spreads less aggressively. Steal his land for commercial agriculture, force him into the city, and make him work for wages; he now has an income, so the stats show a rise in standard of living; but he has less food, and it is processed rather than fresh, and he lives in more squalid conditions, where disease spreads rapidly.

Antibiotics, sanitation, and cheap energy have driven the graph for the developed world. Two of those three are now looking pretty precarious as peak oil slides into the past, and germs develop resistance due to over-use of antibiotics. We may be nearing the top of the roller coaster. It's a heady ride up, but a scary ride down.

 

"Advance" is a word that is too value-laden. What constitutes an advancement? I prefer to say that science teaches us how our world works, thereby enabling us to more effectively combat disease (thereby lengthening our lives) and enabling us to build fun and useful gadgets and machinery.

 

I followed that most excellent presentation closely. What happened quite a few times was a dot would take a big dip (e.g. Japan-WWII) and then bounce right back up. That happened in just about every case, sudden dip followed by rather quick return to the original position. To me that is a sign that basic education is the real engine of change.

 

Something I found interesting was the differences in development between China and the US. The big red blob on the left rose vertically, slowly but steadily, indicating an increase in health, and then scooted across to the right in recent years as the country became wealthier. The US, in contrast, first got wealthier and then became healthier. The two countries may be in the same 'corner' at the moment, but they got there in different ways that may imply where they go from here and now. China seems poised for continued strong growth, but the US may see its health fall as its income stagnates.

 

Here's an interesting video about a 109 year old guy who has some advise about how to live a long life. Eat mostly raw food, no meat, strong faith, avoid getting sick. At 109, he takes a 1.5 mile walk every day. And apparently he doesn't use the medical system, doesn't take vitamin pills, doesn't do a lot of things we are all implored to do. Check out his skin - no wrinkles. Here's the video: 109 YEARS OLD ON MAINLY RAW FOODS- Bernando- The S Video

 

All societies are constantly changing. That's what evolution is: change. "Evolve socially" does not necessarily imply that the society is getting richer or healthier. A society can evolve in any direction.

China was the scientific and technological world leader for a long time. Then (probably due to politics in the distant past) fell into stagnation. Now it is recovering. If we continue to piss away our resources and spend money we don't have, we might well fall into stagnation, and China may recover the position it once had.

Anybody can claim to be 109 years old, and anybody can post a video on the internet. I peg that guy to be in his 60's.

Cooking foods damages some nutrients. But it makes others available. A diet of only cooked foods will be deficient in certain nutrients; but a diet of only raw foods will be deficient in others. A healthy diet will include both.

But I agree that vitamin pills and supplement pills have no benefit if you are eating a well-balanced, healthy diet. And I agree that exercise is necessary.

 

Hans Rosling, MD, is making good dynamic use of statistics. This software not currently available to the average person. We still must limit human population to avoid more and compound problems. This was originally shown on TED.

 

I don't have the dates at my fingertips, but we're talking some hundreds of years ago. Don't scoff at the technology of the past. China was innovative and the educated class was bright and creative. Have a look at The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester.

 

I respectfully suggest that your sense of history is far too short. China, through various dynasties, was a world power that rose and fell several times long before 'The West' even existed, and for much longer than the US has been a nation. I know, for those of us focused on the next quarterly results, 200 years seems a ridiculously long time, but that only serves to illustrate the difference in worldview between East and West.