Relative to our great-great-grandparents, today we live longer, healthier lives—and most of those gains are due to medicine, right? Actually, no. Most scholars don’t see medicine as responsible for most improvements in health and longevity in developed countries.37 Yes, vaccines, penicillin, anesthesia, antiseptic techniques, and emergency medicine are all great, but their overall impact is actually quite modest. Other factors often cited as plausibly more important include better nutrition, improvements in public sanitation, and safer and easier jobs.
