Small is not necessarily better, and there is a difference between a simpler life and the life of a simpleton.It is a point I've made in lectures to students for the last 30+ years. Buchholz makes the point more eloquently than I do.
My favorite family example: the other DrC's great-grandmother buried five of her children in one week; they died from diphtheria. Grammy couldn't go all dysfunctional because she had another seven children to care for. Progress means nobody fears diphtheria much now, if they are smart enough to be vaccinated, and hardly anybody has twelve children.
