5 ms·

The agricultural revolution and it's consequences have been a disaster for the human race?

by cdot2 5y ago

bostonsre 5y ago
Which agricultural revolution? If the earliest, sure more food is good, but having to fear being wiped off the earth from random raiders or armies kind of sucks.
- cdot2 5y ago
  States require administrators by definition and administrators require food surplus or they would starve. I know there were some hunter gatherers who had small food surpluses but I dont think there was anything that could remotely be called a state This guy edited his comment. He originally asked if there were states before agriculture
- Eelongate 5y ago
  > Which agricultural revolution? Don't take it too literally, his comment is a modified quote from the unabomber's manifesto, which opens with, "The industrial revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race." It's something of a meme to swap out "industrial" with something else, usually with a tongue-in-cheek intent.
  - cdot2 5y ago
    Someone got my reference
cm2012 5y ago
Contrary to popular internet belief, hunter gatherer life sucked way worse.
- breakfastduck 5y ago
  There is absolutely no way at all to verify that claim - considering 'better/worse' entirely depends on the happiness of those individuals. Something we have no way of measuring.
  - ivalm 5y ago
    Something like 30% remains from pre-agricultural sites show signs of violent death... sure not a measure of happiness but i'll take safety for starters.
    - munificent 5y ago
      It's unclear how reliable statistics like these are, and the picture of how violent and/or war-like pre-agricultural humans were is very far from clear: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/how-humans-tamed-themselves/580447/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/how-hum... https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/war-is-not-part-of-human-nature/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/war-is-not-part-o... https://www.wired.com/2013/07/to-war-is-human-perhaps-not/ https://www.wired.com/2013/07/to-war-is-human-perhaps-not/
  - colinmhayes 5y ago
    https://ourworldindata.org/happiness-and-life-satisfaction https://ourworldindata.org/happiness-and-life-satisfaction people have never been happier
    - breakfastduck 5y ago
      That data comes from 1970s onward. So totally not at all what we were talking about.

The agricultural revolution and it's consequences have been a disaster for the human race?

by cdot2 5y ago

The agricultural revolution and it's consequences have been a disaster for the human race?

Which agricultural revolution? If the earliest, sure more food is good, but having to fear being wiped off the earth from random raiders or armies kind of sucks.

cdot2 5y ago
States require administrators by definition and administrators require food surplus or they would starve. I know there were some hunter gatherers who had small food surpluses but I dont think there was anything that could remotely be called a state This guy edited his comment. He originally asked if there were states before agriculture
Eelongate 5y ago
> Which agricultural revolution? Don't take it too literally, his comment is a modified quote from the unabomber's manifesto, which opens with, "The industrial revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race." It's something of a meme to swap out "industrial" with something else, usually with a tongue-in-cheek intent.
- cdot2 5y ago
  Someone got my reference

cm2012 5y ago

Contrary to popular internet belief, hunter gatherer life sucked way worse.

breakfastduck 5y ago
There is absolutely no way at all to verify that claim - considering 'better/worse' entirely depends on the happiness of those individuals. Something we have no way of measuring.
- ivalm 5y ago
  Something like 30% remains from pre-agricultural sites show signs of violent death... sure not a measure of happiness but i'll take safety for starters.
  - munificent 5y ago
    It's unclear how reliable statistics like these are, and the picture of how violent and/or war-like pre-agricultural humans were is very far from clear: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/how-humans-tamed-themselves/580447/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/how-hum... https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/war-is-not-part-of-human-nature/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/war-is-not-part-o... https://www.wired.com/2013/07/to-war-is-human-perhaps-not/ https://www.wired.com/2013/07/to-war-is-human-perhaps-not/
- colinmhayes 5y ago
  https://ourworldindata.org/happiness-and-life-satisfaction https://ourworldindata.org/happiness-and-life-satisfaction people have never been happier
  - breakfastduck 5y ago
    That data comes from 1970s onward. So totally not at all what we were talking about.