4 ms·
For a long time in many places, living in grinding poverty was and is "normal" and "natural" for most people. Living with all sorts of insecurity - food, physic
by m_fayer 8y ago
For a long time in many places, living in grinding poverty was and is "normal" and "natural" for most people. Living with all sorts of insecurity - food, physical safety, shelter - all normal. Evolution only selected for those of us who manage to reproduce individually and societally, not for those who tend to live to a ripe old age with a minimum of misery. I really don't get this formulation of "x miserable condition is perfectly natural!" when "natural" so often == "miserable".
- YinglingLight 8y agoYes, but this is specifically about mental health. I believe the increased level of physical activity, combined with greater in-person socialization/community of our forefathers allowed them greater mental health (and with it, greater resiliency) than people of today.
- emodendroket 8y agoPerhaps, but what is the evidence that that was the case or that the causes you cite are the ones to credit?
- danharaj 8y agoHardship and misery aren't the same thing.
- 2bitmachine 8y ago>Evolution only selected for those of us who manage to reproduce individually and societally, not for those who tend to live to a ripe old age with a minimum of misery. Once humans developed complex societal structures, any such discussion of "evolutionary selection" borders on the ludicrous. Who reproduced and survived was (and is) far more dependent on you're relative power and status within these systems than anything even closely resembling natural selection.