Well, if you grow up in a hunting and gathering society and you're asked to choose between giving up your extended families, your religion, your whole way of life so that more of your offspring can live to adulthood, the answer is not as obvious as you assume. I urge you to take a moment to consider the possiblity that the values that you live by are not the universal values that all humans share. Other people with different values would make different decisions than you do, including your decision to valorize life in an industrial society.
--and I should note: if you read this post as "life-was-so-much-better-among-the noble-savages", I'll hit you with a clew-by-four (as shag would say).
Miles