it's totally normal because people didn't start making it to 40 with regularity until very recently, thanks in part to synthetics. You are correct that synthetics have played a role in lengthening the human lifespan, but not as big of a role as people like to think. Mostly just eliminating mass diseases/plagues. In general, antibiotics are WAY over-prescribed and also very harmful. Really, the reason that we live longer today is because of our infrastructure. Food is widely available and regulated. We don't have to go around hunting and eating/drinking whatever we happen to find that day (risking all sorts of diseases, etc). Also, we don't get eaten by bears and lions and stuff as much anymore. The bottom line is that people get things like cancer, Alzheimers, diabetes, autism, food allergies, etc at astronomically higher rates today than ever before. It's because of all the toxins we put into our bodies. Boy... now I'm really off topic. people have been mass farming for 10,000 years and food has been widely available since. the very existence of farms implies that they have cities to feed. people living on top of each other in cities is a far better way of spreading disease than people hunting and fishing for food in small reclusive communities. after withstanding plague after plague, we finally figured out a few tricks to improve our chances at survival, antiseptics (thank you, Donnie Darko) and antibiotics. what you're bemoaning isn't pharmaceuticals, but the necessity of pharmaceuticals. but the only way we can live without them now is to trade the plow for the spear, which isn't going to happen. you'll have to live with it. the older our population gets, the sicker it will get.