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There has been a strong trend towards async communication though, which does help a lot. Before it was all phone calls, in-person interactions, live TV and Rad

There has been a strong trend towards async communication though, which does help a lot. Before it was all phone calls, in-person interactions, live TV and Radio... Both for work and leisure, now you have more options than ever to take things at your own pace rather than letting external factors dictate how you arrange your time. I think we hit peak "speed of life" in the late 20th century to be honest, much of this is grass-is-greener thinking, we have made great progress in terms of day-to-day personal freedom. Life has never really matched this idilic ideal of the village farmer. Things were very rough for most of history, everyone was constantly stressed to keep up with their minimal necessities to live, it was not in any way relaxed. And the industrial revolution hit ~250 years ago, with much more strict schedules and much longer work days. This is not a recent phenomenon in the least.

rramadass 2y ago
> Things were very rough for most of history, everyone was constantly stressed to keep up with their minimal necessities to live, it was not in any way relaxed. I have heard this argument many times before but it is mostly not true. Most village farmers do lead a more relaxed and relatively stress-free life. You just need to visit/observe/interact with them to see the difference. The main reason is the difference between Acute Stress vs. Chronic Stress. Chronic Stress has what has exploded exponentially in urban areas after the Industrial Revolution and the current IT Industry has made it even worse. There are just too many things to juggle all the time each of which has a deadline with consequences (because process and efficiency) however trivial it might be in the larger scheme of things. The farmer doesn't have that many things to worry over and so only has episodic bursts of Acute Stress over truly consequential things the management of which is easier. Another related point is that the farmer does live closer and more entwined with Nature than urban folks and this has been shown to be better for psychological health. We are evolved to interact with Nature and not isolate ourselves in a concrete jungle and grey cubicles.
- agumonkey 2y ago
  Living closer to nature and animals fundamentally alters your spirit. The sound, the light, the details and complexity, the beauty of other animals (bringing back the carnivore dilemma though, but also making you more aware of what feeding yourself entails, I don't know)

rramadass 2y ago

> Things were very rough for most of history, everyone was constantly stressed to keep up with their minimal necessities to live, it was not in any way relaxed. I have heard this argument many times before but it is mostly not true. Most village farmers do lead a more relaxed and relatively stress-free life. You just need to visit/observe/interact with them to see the difference. The main reason is the difference between Acute Stress vs. Chronic Stress. Chronic Stress has what has exploded exponentially in urban areas after the Industrial Revolution and the current IT Industry has made it even worse. There are just too many things to juggle all the time each of which has a deadline with consequences (because process and efficiency) however trivial it might be in the larger scheme of things. The farmer doesn't have that many things to worry over and so only has episodic bursts of Acute Stress over truly consequential things the management of which is easier. Another related point is that the farmer does live closer and more entwined with Nature than urban folks and this has been shown to be better for psychological health. We are evolved to interact with Nature and not isolate ourselves in a concrete jungle and grey cubicles.

agumonkey 2y ago
Living closer to nature and animals fundamentally alters your spirit. The sound, the light, the details and complexity, the beauty of other animals (bringing back the carnivore dilemma though, but also making you more aware of what feeding yourself entails, I don't know)