A Tale of Two Ancestor Myths

Virtually every people group has had the myth: "Our ancestors were better than us." It is usually a myth, because for most of history, people really were getting better by broad measures of fitness.

At some point in the last 50 to 200 years, this myth became reality. Human cultures, in spite of the masking effects of technology and an over-extension of social capital, really did start to become worse in broad measures of fitness.

Ironically, if not accidentally, a new myth simultaneously arose: "Our ancestors were worse than us."

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