In particular, recent discoveries suggest that the adoption of agriculture, supposedly our most decisive step toward a better life, was in many ways a catastrophe from which we have never recovered.
I'm familiar with these arguments (the fact that until very recently agricultural populations were less healthy and robust than their hunter-gatherer ancestors), and find them convincing to the point I've developed an Extremely Heretical interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis as being a folk memory of the transition to an agricultural lifestyle, with all the trade-offs that entailed. That said, without civilization there wouldn't be baseball, chocolate, or the internet, and I'd have to tell stories around the fire instead of writing them down.
Opposable thumbs! I blame opposable thumbs!
without civilization there wouldn't be baseball, chocolate, or the internet, and I'd have to tell stories around the fire instead of writing them down.
Indeed. Plus, no wine, scotch, birth control pills, peanut butter, or tv.
And walking upright was a complete fucking DISASTER.
My back agrees. Especially when it's in the middle of one of those muscle spasms I get now and then.
But we'd still have the martial arts or something much like, so I'm of two minds about the whole thing.
I've developed an Extremely Heretical interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis as being a folk memory of the transition to an agricultural lifestyle, with all the trade-offs that entailed.
Ooh, that's really interesting.
I think I'll read my Bible tonight (hey, even an atheist sometimes needs a Bible for reference).
That said, without civilization there wouldn't be baseball, chocolate, or the internet, and I'd have to tell stories around the fire instead of writing them down.
But think how much more effective you'd be at hunting and gathering if you had WiFi. And although there'd be no baseball, there'd still be Calvinball.
On a non-H2G2 note, there is some evidence to suggest that the invention of agriculture warmed the planet enough to prevent our regularly scheduled ice age, and so began global warming. (It's a somewhat controversial theory, but not completely without merit.)
My back agrees. Especially when it's in the middle of one of those muscle spasms I get now and then.
Our bodies have not fully adapted to walking upright, which is why we often suffer from back problems, fallen arches, etc.
Oh, and some hypothesize that agriculture was developed just so folks could have beer. (Is that still a popular theory?)
