Perspective

Economists and demographers use life expectancy as a broad measure of human prosperity, over time and across cultures. One such social scientist, Indur Goklany, in his seminal work, The Improving State of the World, assembled actual and estimated relevant data, from which he noted: "For much of human history, average life expectancy used to be 20-30 years. By 1900, it had climbed to about 31 years - by 2003 it was 66.8 years."

This change was not only massive, but from a (very) long-term perspective, sudden as well, as the above chart illustrates. The abrupt shift in the red line, from virtually horizontal to nearly vertical, coincides exactly with that remarkable point in history - beginning in about 1760 in Britain, then spreading over the following century to Western Europe, then to America and Japan - known as the Industrial Revolution. Innovation and technological change, together with a freeing of international trade, the introduction of public education, and the emergence of democracy, produced sustained, unprecedented growth in GDP per capita and human well-being. The scientific method, with its approach to defining, experimenting and resolving, began to supplant fear, superstition and centuries-old beliefs in fate, angels, miracles and holy relics.

Those today who are anti-growth, anti-capitalist, anti-globalization, would do well to recall the extraordinary impact of the industrial revolution - that is, innovation - on human welfare. Just look at the chart. Our era's information-technology revolution - with its associated expansion of trade, capital flows and global supply chains - while at least as disruptive as its 18th-century predecessor, is on track to be even more transformative of the human condition.