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This is a good point. We might have antibiotics to fight serious infections but the modern way of living is still slowly killing us in many other ways.

by qplex 7y ago

smabie 7y ago
Well if we went back to the "old" way of living, it would very quickly kill almost all of us.
- idclip 7y ago
  A hammer and a hard place. We have alot to improve - I had days when i down right thought “this is hell”, when deeply thinking about “modern” life and the exploitation and existential issues needed to maintain it. I honestly wouldnt choose us, if i was starting a new. on the other hand murder or genocide arent an option either, so we have to improve, somehow, or suffer badly. Some of us already have no choice.
- GoofballJones 7y ago
  Exactly this. The "old" way of living, you were considered in your old age if you made it to your 40s.
  - mackrevinack 7y ago
    today, kids think that being 30+ is old
    - 2038AD 7y ago
      That's not new but probably more jarring since adults are more childish than they used to be
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - 2038AD 7y ago
    When looking at historical life expectancies, a common mistake is to look from birth. High rates of infant mortality shift the average. The life expectancy from birth for a Roman was about 35 but take it from age 5 and it jumps up to 60-65.
- cryptica 7y ago
  The modern way of living makes us weak and reliant on technology - It happens at a genetic level. Removing basic evolutionary pressures causes the species to evolve complex adaptations to constantly changing abstract cultural problems instead of more concrete and static problems in our environment. In the context of recent human evolution, survival has taken the backseat to mating - But evolution has a way to balance itself out. Humans will become so overly optimized for mating that we will lose all basic survival abilities and our immune systems will become weak and fully dependent on complex drugs.
  - smabie 7y ago
    Many species exhibit strong sexual selection pressures, it's a natural part of evolution.
  - blaser-waffle 7y ago
    All species heavily optimize for mating, to the point of detriment. You think the male peacock needs all those feathers to survive?
    - cryptica 7y ago
      Yes, but unlike the peacock's feathers, technology makes our survival easier not harder. This is what makes us weaker over time. Because of technology, natural selection doesn't select for fitness as strongly as it would otherwise - Technology lowers the bar in terms of what genes are required for survival, so natural selection becomes centered around abstract cultural aspects related to mating such as (for example) wealth which doesn't correlate very strongly with fitness (likely inversely correlated in fact). Anything which allows for weak genes to pass down to the next generations is bad for evolution. That's what happened to many species of birds in New Zealand; there were so few natural predators for such long periods of time that many lost their ability to fly. Then when predators were introduced, a lot of these species went extinct very quickly.
- mcv 7y ago
  It certainly would need to, because you can't sustain 7 billion people on a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Despite its many disadvantages, agriculture won out because you can feed more people on less land, which makes it easy to push hunter-gatherers from their land.
Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
This is a common notion that I am yet to understand or relate to... What does "still slowly killing us" even mean? Life is slowly killing us because everyone everywhere is getting old and is dying. It has been that way since the first multi-cell organism. What does this have to do with our way of life? If our current way of life is killing us slower than all other previous ways of life, then it is surely better than them? What kind of characterization is it even, what does it accomplish? What is "a way of life" anyway? Sedentary, no-sports? Eating farm-produced food? Watching TV? Having clothes? Driving cars? Living in individual houses instead of big villages?
- marcus_holmes 7y ago
  We don't face any struggles in our lives. This leads to depression. I'm not criticising our culture or way of life. We naturally want to spend our lives comfortably at peace. We have managed to improve our lives, generation over generation, to the point now where the average person can reasonably expect to live their entire life without fear of violence or starvation and die of natural causes in their 80's. But just like how eating all the high-calorie food we want leads to diabetes, because our bodies are evolved to a much less calorific diet (and periodic starvation), we evolved to face more challenges. The lack of fear and the ease of our survival leads to mental health problems because we have the luxury of wondering wtf we're doing here, instead of wondering how we're going to survive until next week. Exercise helps with depression, partly because it's not easy, it requires effort and discipline and it's not "fun". Forcing yourself to get out of the house and go for a run is difficult (I know, I went through clinical depression and had to force myself to do this. Still do). It does the same for your body - stresses it to make it more healthy. Hopefully it'll change. As following generations get used to lives without struggle or fear or starvation they'll adapt and be more mentally healthy. We'll also conquer diabetes, somehow, I'm sure.
  - watwut 7y ago
    Many people face struggles in their lives. Can be struggling to pay the bills, sickness, mental health problems, abuse at home or work, loneliness and so on. These did happen int he past too, but it is just not true that people today don't face struggles. > Exercise helps with depression, partly because it's not easy, it requires effort and discipline and it's not "fun". Forcing yourself to get out of the house and go for a run is difficult (I know, I went through clinical depression and had to force myself to do this. Still do). It does the same for your body - stresses it to make it more healthy. Exercise is and can be fun. And there are enough forms of exercise to take the one that matches your personality. People get addicted to exercise and many people overdo it - even injuring themselves for fun. The struggle to go out was not because exercise is inherently not fun, but because you had depression.

This is a good point. We might have antibiotics to fight serious infections but the modern way of living is still slowly killing us in many other ways.

by qplex 7y ago

This is a good point. We might have antibiotics to fight serious infections but the modern way of living is still slowly killing us in many other ways.

smabie 7y ago

Well if we went back to the "old" way of living, it would very quickly kill almost all of us.

idclip 7y ago
A hammer and a hard place. We have alot to improve - I had days when i down right thought “this is hell”, when deeply thinking about “modern” life and the exploitation and existential issues needed to maintain it. I honestly wouldnt choose us, if i was starting a new. on the other hand murder or genocide arent an option either, so we have to improve, somehow, or suffer badly. Some of us already have no choice.
GoofballJones 7y ago
Exactly this. The "old" way of living, you were considered in your old age if you made it to your 40s.
- mackrevinack 7y ago
  today, kids think that being 30+ is old
  - 2038AD 7y ago
    That's not new but probably more jarring since adults are more childish than they used to be
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- 2038AD 7y ago
  When looking at historical life expectancies, a common mistake is to look from birth. High rates of infant mortality shift the average. The life expectancy from birth for a Roman was about 35 but take it from age 5 and it jumps up to 60-65.
cryptica 7y ago
The modern way of living makes us weak and reliant on technology - It happens at a genetic level. Removing basic evolutionary pressures causes the species to evolve complex adaptations to constantly changing abstract cultural problems instead of more concrete and static problems in our environment. In the context of recent human evolution, survival has taken the backseat to mating - But evolution has a way to balance itself out. Humans will become so overly optimized for mating that we will lose all basic survival abilities and our immune systems will become weak and fully dependent on complex drugs.
- smabie 7y ago
  Many species exhibit strong sexual selection pressures, it's a natural part of evolution.
- blaser-waffle 7y ago
  All species heavily optimize for mating, to the point of detriment. You think the male peacock needs all those feathers to survive?
  - cryptica 7y ago
    Yes, but unlike the peacock's feathers, technology makes our survival easier not harder. This is what makes us weaker over time. Because of technology, natural selection doesn't select for fitness as strongly as it would otherwise - Technology lowers the bar in terms of what genes are required for survival, so natural selection becomes centered around abstract cultural aspects related to mating such as (for example) wealth which doesn't correlate very strongly with fitness (likely inversely correlated in fact). Anything which allows for weak genes to pass down to the next generations is bad for evolution. That's what happened to many species of birds in New Zealand; there were so few natural predators for such long periods of time that many lost their ability to fly. Then when predators were introduced, a lot of these species went extinct very quickly.
mcv 7y ago
It certainly would need to, because you can't sustain 7 billion people on a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Despite its many disadvantages, agriculture won out because you can feed more people on less land, which makes it easy to push hunter-gatherers from their land.

Erlich_Bachman 7y ago

This is a common notion that I am yet to understand or relate to... What does "still slowly killing us" even mean? Life is slowly killing us because everyone everywhere is getting old and is dying. It has been that way since the first multi-cell organism. What does this have to do with our way of life? If our current way of life is killing us slower than all other previous ways of life, then it is surely better than them? What kind of characterization is it even, what does it accomplish? What is "a way of life" anyway? Sedentary, no-sports? Eating farm-produced food? Watching TV? Having clothes? Driving cars? Living in individual houses instead of big villages?

marcus_holmes 7y ago
We don't face any struggles in our lives. This leads to depression. I'm not criticising our culture or way of life. We naturally want to spend our lives comfortably at peace. We have managed to improve our lives, generation over generation, to the point now where the average person can reasonably expect to live their entire life without fear of violence or starvation and die of natural causes in their 80's. But just like how eating all the high-calorie food we want leads to diabetes, because our bodies are evolved to a much less calorific diet (and periodic starvation), we evolved to face more challenges. The lack of fear and the ease of our survival leads to mental health problems because we have the luxury of wondering wtf we're doing here, instead of wondering how we're going to survive until next week. Exercise helps with depression, partly because it's not easy, it requires effort and discipline and it's not "fun". Forcing yourself to get out of the house and go for a run is difficult (I know, I went through clinical depression and had to force myself to do this. Still do). It does the same for your body - stresses it to make it more healthy. Hopefully it'll change. As following generations get used to lives without struggle or fear or starvation they'll adapt and be more mentally healthy. We'll also conquer diabetes, somehow, I'm sure.
- watwut 7y ago
  Many people face struggles in their lives. Can be struggling to pay the bills, sickness, mental health problems, abuse at home or work, loneliness and so on. These did happen int he past too, but it is just not true that people today don't face struggles. > Exercise helps with depression, partly because it's not easy, it requires effort and discipline and it's not "fun". Forcing yourself to get out of the house and go for a run is difficult (I know, I went through clinical depression and had to force myself to do this. Still do). It does the same for your body - stresses it to make it more healthy. Exercise is and can be fun. And there are enough forms of exercise to take the one that matches your personality. People get addicted to exercise and many people overdo it - even injuring themselves for fun. The struggle to go out was not because exercise is inherently not fun, but because you had depression.