“Why has the human life expectancy increased so much over the past
couple of centuries if we are getting weaker?”
I’d humbly suggest: the long hours put in by a bunch of
“pencil-necked geeks”
in research laboratories and medical research foundations.
Probably 10-15 years ago, PBS (as much as I dislike their funding scheme)
produced a short series on medical advances that have prolonged
human life-spans (and improved “quality of life”).
It’s STUNNING to see what happened when the action and need for insulin
was discovered. That episode showed a girl that looked like an escapee
from a concentration camp: skin and bones. And she was saved by
insulin injections that became available “in the nick of time”
(IIRC, she was the daughter of a prominent politician; impotent to
save the life of his beloved daughter, but for the contribution of
some geeks.)
Also, the show covered the eventual cure of pelagra (sp?) when it
was learned folks subsisting on a common diet in “The South”
(fat-back?) were not getting enough some vitamins.
Overall: the PBS series showed how a bunch of lab/medico geeks
that might have trouble bench-pressing a typewriter of their day
did a disproporionate amount to help humanity.
All that said, I do feel like I should get out in the sun, run, labor
with working on my lawn, exert my muscles...
just to stay in touch with “the human condition”.
People come in all shapes, sizes and abilities. The pencil-necked geek in high school finds his niche in the research laboratory. Isn’t that a story that has been told over and over and over again?
Back in the tribe, every individual couldn’t be the brave strong warrior. But everybody had to find a way to contribute. In the dark age monasteries, Benedictine Rule stated that if you didn’t work you didn’t eat. And if you wanted to eat meat, you had to do physical labor, if I remember correctly.
Find your niche. That’s the meaning of life right there.