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Comment by pmorici | Hacker News Reader

Humans survived without A/C for most of their existence. While it is common today it really is a luxury.

70,000 people didn't survive without A/C in the 2003 heatwave in Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave

Without A/C, tropical countries would not have developed to the extent they have, bringing millions out of poverty https://www.vox.com/2015/3/23/8278085/singapore-lee-kuan-yew...

Most people in most tropical countries still don't have a c.

I live in the tropics and don't have it, but we are in the country. Family in the city do and every house I have been to in the city does (middle classes and up (where middle class is basically anyone who has a regular job)

Most tropical countries aren't highly developed!

We also had cultures based around weather - you wouldn't see people out and about in that kind of heat, because everyone would be in the shade trying to keep cool. Now we have a bunch of concrete buildings and roads and glass skyscrapers.

Same goes for antibiotics and internet access. Everything is a luxury when you compare it to living in a cave and scrabbling to survive.

The difference between A/C and antibiotics is that there are plenty of alternatives to A/C like drinking enough water and staying in the shade. There really aren't any alternatives to antibiotics. The Internet is totally frivolous to human survival on a basic needs level.

Quite a few people still die without A/C. Children and the elderly are particularly susceptible to heat stroke.

I grew up in Sacramento. I know full well that hydration and shade are not nearly as effective as just staying inside an air-conditioned room. They're certainly important in those cases where you need to be out and about, but it's almost always better to just not be in that environment in the first place.

Sacramento without A/C would be a harsh place for even a healthy person during the summer.

Roads started melting there from the 110+ degree heat this summer.

> Humans survived without A/C for most of their existence.

How many died because of the absence?

Survival is a poor metric.

And is it less or more than the number of people who die from coal pollution.

If anything I think less die before reaching puberty.

> without A/C

... and clothes, shoes, agriculture, metal, etc etc. A/C is a luxury, yes, but humans have been without pretty much all artificial things for most of their existence.

Humans survived without dental care, anesthetics, antibiotics, regular bathing, deodorants, vaccination, pasteurization, etc. for most of their existence. At least some humans. Now, people are free to get as close to the stone age as they like, but I like my civilization, thank you very much. When my teeth hurt, I don't bash them with a stone and don't drink boar's urine, I go to the dentist, where she fixes my problems under anesthesia. When it's too hot, I turn on AC. Yes, it is a luxury, as most of our civilization is. And I love it.

Humans also didn't live in a lot of environments that were enabled by A/C.

Not true. Think of to the Bedouins in the Sahara, the Inuits in northern Canada and the tradesmen crossing the Silk Road since the first Egyptian empire. Or anyone in India for the last 7k years. Humans have been living with temperatures ranging from -50C to 50C for thousands of years.

The American southwest (i.e. Arizona) was thinly populated until the advent of air conditioning.

Even in pre-colonial times? Or whas it just that Europeans settled in places that felt like home?

They had swamp cooling. Also the rivers actually had water in them above ground. But yes, less people.

Like where? Early human civilizations started in some of the hottest places on earth.

Climate in the "Fertile Crescent" during the Neolithic was cooler and wetter than it is today.

And even today it is not really among the hottest places on Earth.

Houston

> Humans survived without A/C for most of their existence

And they still do. It's ubiquitous in the US, but I assume only a tiny minority of people in the world use A/C, even in developed countries.

I really hate being meta, but why are people responding to a comment with no meat or substance?

Look - we are all the children of survivors, and the correct counter factual are all our siblings and their lineages who didn't make it.

I wonder if we'll start saying the same about refrigeration, electricity or reliably clean water?

Many places human live today weren't considered habitable until A/C was invented.

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