Agriculture is Killing Me

Was humankind's shift toward agriculture a mistake?

This article suggests that our transition from a hunter-gatherer society to a society bound by agriculture was actually detrimental to us in many ways.

It seems as though we traded a relaxing existence of relative equality and happiness for a stressful, competitive, oppressive, divisive, and biologically harmful way of life.

I would think our lives are certainly longer thanks to our economic development and we have been able to answer many of our age-old scientific questions thanks to innovations which were only possible because of industrial productivity. But are we happier? Do we have a net gain in quality of life?

I got started on this line of thinking thanks to a great profile of a current-day hunter-gatherer society living in Tanzania I read in National Geographic.

I work 40 hours a week. I spend 5 more hours away from my home eating lunch. I spend another 5 hours each week traveling to and from work. Add another 5 hours each week preparing for my office job, which requires shaving, ironing, careful selection of attire, and preparation of each day's lunch. That's 55 hours each week devoted to work. That total could easily approach 80 if I had a more demanding job, my home were in the suburbs, and if I required more time to primp myself for work.


Does having an iPhone justify all that labor? How about a flat-screen TV? Don't forget about the added health problems that come along with sustaining the cycle of work and consumption.

I'm not saying I want to gather nuts and live outdoors, but it gives one pause.