You certainly don't have to try and convince me of the virtues of a simpler, more natural, lifestyle. There's nothing I like better than going off by myself, into nature, and just being part of it all. But the thing is, this is a luxury that most of our ancestors would not have found possible. Most were tied to the land, or stuck in squalid, cramped cities, often living in their own filth. Only the rich or very lucky would have had the freedom to do that sort of thing.daniel j lavender wrote: ↑Wed May 31, 2023 4:31 pmActually we were nomadic and living on the plains as well.
Besides, we’re still scratching around in caves. These are your dimly-lit school buildings, your tedious, boring offices, your cramped cubicles.
Huge misconception.
Hunter-gatherers actually worked less and enjoyed more leisure time than what you may consider modern-day agriculturalists.
Farmers have less leisure time than hunter-gatherers, study suggests https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/far ... y-suggests
Marshall Sahlins estimated (1972), based on a number of reports like Richard Lee’s study of the !Kung, James Woodbury’s observations of the Hadza, and many others, that extant hunter-gatherers typically work an average of 3-5 hours per day https://www.rewild.com/in-depth/leisure.html
Like most you are buying into the sales pitch brought to you by civilization.
The hunter-gatherer lifestyle was the most sustainable lifestyle possible. It is how humans naturally developed to live. The modern fairy-tale lifestyle goes against almost everything natural. Look at all the obesity. All the depression, anxiety, and all the manufactured drugs sold to remedy those issues. All of these issues are manufactured. Both problems and solutions.
Coronavirus, anyone?
And now humans, some of them anyway, have the ability to implement tyrannical parameters of control whenever some bug hits. Remember all the restrictions and frenzy during Corona? All the lost wages, closed businesses? Did that not dramatically affect the livelihood of many?
So we are still dealing with natural diseases on top of man-made laboratory threats such as anthrax in addition to the draconian implementations imposed whenever one of these bugs pops up. Better? Progress?
Still happening and will continue to happen. Look at all the homeless in America alone. California alone.
You call this “progress”? Progress of what? What’s really progressing is technology and parameters of control. Human interaction, human kindness is not. The emphasis is placed on the paycheck, the advancement of business and the advancement of technology. This is why technology progresses but humankind and its daily interaction seemingly does not.
The society we have created, the progress we have achieved centers on flimsy, selfish convenience. We want things quick and easy. We want things consistent. We want things for what we can use them for.
Technology has spoiled us. Tech delivers things quickly, cleanly and consistently. Robotically. Now humans expect other humans to behave accordingly. Robotically. No emotion. No question. No friction. Give me the hot fries now. We are replacing ourselves, we are transforming ourselves into robots for quick convenience. Transhumanism.
No need for deadly guns or missiles. Technology, transhumanism, roboticism will be the death of us all.
Progress. Better.
But yes, I agree that modern society leaves a lot to be desired. We can't go back, though. We can only go forward.