Did the previous tools, which freed us from physical work, take human physique to another pinnacle?

I think probably actually. The fittest people back then probably weren't as fit as people today with specialized diets and medical science, and surely those findings were a result of better equipment, which were a result of better tooling to manufacture that equipment.

Introducing a machine to a manufacturing role obviously makes the manufacturer less fit, but it enables society to break through fitness barriers in general

If your point is that it's not orders of magnitude fitter, that's a good one. I don't think people will be much more intelligent in the future than they are today but they'll probably just be more specialized and have deeper knowledge

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Epa095 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I am no expert, just a guy reading the Internet. And it seems like there are two opposing factors. The increased access to nutritious food has dramatically increased health, shown in the increased average height. The exception to this is the first 50 years, 1830-1880 when widespread dietary deprivation and severe inequality caused a decrease in height (take this as a warning I guess).

The other factor is that we all get significantly less physical activity than before, and obesity is a increasing problem.

And while the first effect is a effect of the machines, it is the latter effect I think most easily maps onto today's situation.

Personally I am quite certain that if you could teleport 100 random 20-year old from 1820 they would be better than 100 random 20-year old today at most physical tests, especially if you gave them food first.

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kibwen 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Considering developed societies with access to those specialized diets and medical science, the median person is definitely not stronger than the median person from a pre-industrial society, even taking malnutrition and injury into account. It seems you've never tried to arm-wrestle a farmer before.

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wat10000 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Have you tried to arm-wrestle a subsistence farmer who saw multiple bad harvests growing up?

	▲	kibwen 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I've arm-wrestled office workers; I stand by my assertion.

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wolvesechoes 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

But what about average person, not a professional athlete? In past people suffered from malnourishment, but today they suffer from obesity.

We also know that testosterone levels (which are connected with muscle mass, recovery etc.) are lower today than even few decades back.

	▲	abejfehr 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It definitely doesn’t hold true for the average person, I was only thinking of the fittest today. I’m not sure what it means if we want the average person to be fitter, it seems like we’d have to reinstitute manual labour if that was the goal. Which is maybe a good analogy for not using AI in the classroom and forcing kids to use their minds