Life expectancy


Do those who claim that modern medicine has increased life expectancy know how long some ancient figures lived?

For example:

Sophocles (496-406 BC) - 90 years

Isocrates (436-338 BC) - 98 years

Democritus (460-370 BC) - 90 years

Titian (1488-1576) - 88 years

Plato (428-348 BC) - 80 years

Diogenes of Sinope (412-323 BC) - 89 years

Cato (234-149 BC) - 85 years

Seneca the Elder (54 BC-AD 39) - 93 years.

When they say that life expectancy was once 30 years, do they know that it was because infant mortality was extremely high? Average life expectancy is actually calculated by including all deaths, including infant deaths. Do they know that it was improved sanitation that brought about improvements, not medicine that extended life? Access to clean water, sewers, and better housing conditions have drastically reduced infectious diseases. These factors, combined with the reduction in infant mortality, are the real reason for the increase in average life expectancy.

Modern medicine has contributed to some specific pathologies, but the "jump" in average life expectancy is due to the factors indicated.

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