Meszaros, progress

[Brad De Long]

>Jim,
>
>This is not an absurd myth.  This notion that life was always wretched back
>in the old hunter-gatherer days is bogus.  People DID work less.  Marshall
>Sahlins and others came to this conclusion after direct observation of
>hunter-gatherer societies.  Why can't we extrapolate their research back to
>prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies?
>
>Secondly, although Carrol would have trouble if thrown in the rainforest
>right now, if he had been born into a native group which lived in the
>rainforest he would be able to support himself without difficulty.

That's why life expectancy at birth in hunter-gatherer societies is 
on the order of 25 years...

Brad DeLong