"people before civilization didn't live much shorter lives than we do." Not at all true. According to "The World Until Yesterday" life expectancy in traditiona

"people before civilization didn't live much shorter lives than we do." Not at all true. According to "The World Until Yesterday" life expectancy in traditional societies is more like 40 years. I know there is always the issue with child mortality distorting the numbers, but still. As to 2), while some aspects of living in traditional societies sound great, in "The World Until Yesterday" Jared mentions that most people chose to live in civilization once given the choice. The main advantage apparently being to not live in permanent fear of being murdered. There were countless different ways to live in traditional societies, though. Maybe some where better than others. Still, I am more inclined to believe Jared Diamond than your source. Another thought on the Comanche example: how civilized was the world of North America at the time? People were coming to the Americas to escape extreme poverty and starvation. And there still seemed to be wars raging on. Maybe not at all comparable to our modern comfy civilization? I don't remember all aspects, but I think hunter gatherer actually have to work less than farmers. There are certainly advantages to that lifestyle. But then they don't have much surplus to invest into medical research, and they can't support a high number of people - surplus people have to die, either by being murdered as children, being sent away into the wild, or in wars.