[ExI] Paleo lifespan (and an aside from Capitalism Genes)

[J. Stanton]

Originally posted by BillK:
> I don't believe it is a myth that paleo people only had an average
> life span of around 30-35 years. But it wasn't due to their diet.

Agreed.  All I'm pointing out is that "average lifespan" is a misleading 
measure of how long they lived, due to massive infant and child 
mortality, and therefore doesn't tell us whether Paleolithic habits are 
healthy.

Since we're talking about Clark's "Capitalism Genes", one of the 
startling facts he begins with is that the *average* modern 
hunter-gatherer tribe (banished to the most hostile and least productive 
lands on the planet) eats better than the residents of the richest 
countries in the world previous to 1800 -- and still eats better than 
the average African!

I will also note that several of these tribes are composed of people we 
call "pygmies", with average heights at or below five feet, and that 
their caloric intake is therefore even larger in proportion.

JS
http://www.gnolls.org