this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2024
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[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 day ago (2 children)

So, the real elephant in the room is that for the average worker, they are more productive (ie, working much harder) and under much, much more financial stress... which effects epigenetics

and... people are having children later in life, leading to children with more genetic defects (the average person has about 7 genetic defects, some people have more, some fewer)

in the 1950s, a man could work at a factory with a high school diploma, own a house, support a family, and have a wife as a full-time assistant at home

now both parents have to work, if there even are children, there may or may not be a house, and many are just single. people are under huge amounts of stress, and all of it effects epigenetics including via weaker bonds within families

bodies interpret stress as either "uh oh, i'm going to get kicked out of my tribe and will have to forage and hunt on my own and may die" or "there may be a famine soon"

the fact that the vitamin levels of food has gone down is a real thing, bodies remember things like that, and can be aware of the decrease, and start to prepare for famines

TLDR captialism without proper government regulation of externalities is making people fat along with higher populations and decreased vitamin levels in food due to over-farming