Kyle Harper

But – and I think it has rapidly leveled off.

But –

You know, people are more intelligent today than they were 100 years ago.

Their brains are better nourished and their bodies spend less time fighting pathogens.

So I think there's no doubt that pre-industrial populations, and again, populations, so you still have, you know, you still have your Isaac Newtons who whatever infected him as a kid didn't slow him down.

But at the population level, I think there's no doubt that not only were pre-industrial populations

This is just a total fact that we know from their bones.

But they probably also on average had sort of a lower distribution of cognitive abilities but with a big distribution.

Yeah, I mean obviously it didn't keep them from discovering some pretty amazing things.

So it couldn't have been completely destructive.

But that's one of the things that's interesting about the early modern period and the 17th, 18th century in particular is it's sort of this between period where –

where you have sort of the pre-industrial and the modern that are still like mixed together in these really interesting ways.

And so the example I use in the book is the very famous Diary of Samuel Pepys, who's this incredible figure and is like very close to Newton and that social group.

And his name is on the first edition of the Principia, right?

I mean, these people are like

This close to each other.

But, like, you know, the stuff that I evoke, I won't – you know, this is a family podcast.

But, like, you know, the stuff that peeps does bodily functions is, like, mind-blowing to us.

It's vile and disgusting.

But at the same time, like –