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1-Page Summary of The Great Escape

Overview

During the last years of the eighteenth century, when life expectancy was about 35 years, over 400,000 people died in Europe from smallpox. Today we don’t even have to worry about it. A lot has changed since then thanks to scientific discoveries and political ideas that have improved living conditions for many people around the world. However, not all countries are benefiting equally from these advances because richer countries benefit more than poorer ones do.

So what can we do about this? The following key points will help. You’ll also learn why our earliest ancestors’ way of life might not have been so bad; how the United States became an aristocracy; and why foreign aid is a blunt instrument in the fight against poverty.

Big Idea #1: There’s never been a better time to be alive.

When listening to the news these days, one gets the impression that things are getting worse and worse. However, on average, people’s well-being has never been better than it is today.

Throughout most of human history, people lived in extreme poverty. However, over the past few hundred years, a lot has changed for the better. Although more than a billion people still live in extreme poverty today, overall well being has increased significantly.

Big Idea #2: Our ancestors lived significantly shorter and unhealthier lives than we do today.

Humans, the first members of hunter-gatherer communities, lived healthy lives. They looked for food and shelter to survive. However, they had a balanced diet and shared what they found with one another. These nomadic tribes moved on before disease spread because their diet consisted of nutritious wild plants and meat that was probably healthier than what we consume today.

For thousands of years, humans were hunter-gatherers. They lived off the land and their own resources. Then, they began to settle down and grow crops alongside domesticated animals for food. This was known as the Neolithic Revolution, but it actually led to a decrease in well-being because disease became rampant among these settled populations due to close proximity with animals.

One would expect that the first humans who settled down in villages were happier than those who remained nomadic. Settling down meant less travel, less competition for food and a more stable life.

It was thought that settling down and forming cities would improve well-being, but it actually decreased it. The early settlements were dirty and disease spread quickly because of trade with other villages. As a result, quality of life and average lifespan dropped during the Neolithic Revolution. People died young from diseases or famine after droughts.