For tens of thousands of years ancient humans lived as hunter-gatherers. They owned few possessions and traveled across vast distances in step with the migration patterns of the beasts they hunted. It was a tough existence. They lived hand to mouth, always on the search for food, and only one misstep away from disaster. A minor injury for you or me today might be a death sentence to these early nomads.
However, the portrait of savage survival was framed with wonder. Members of the tribe enjoyed modest work weeks and long stretches of leisure with a tight-knit group of friends and family. Their days would have been filled with rich and diverse experiences as they explored raw and pristine landscapes. A varied and nutritious diet combined with constant exercise meant that these ancient humans, if they survived childhood, probably lived a relatively long and healthy life.
The wholesome and varied diet, the relatively short working week, and the rarity of infectious diseases have led many experts to define pre-agricultural forager societies as ‘the original affluent societies’.
YUVAL NOAH HARARI, SAPIENS
While the human collective knows far more today than the ancients, at the individual level, these foragers were the most knowledgeable and skillful people in history. After all, their survival depended upon knowing what plants were safe to eat and how to track wild game across miles of uncharted territory. It would have been as if every member of the tribe was a super-human version of Bear Grylls.
But all of this changed when the ancients domesticated wheat.
They eventually spent less time wandering in search of food and more time cultivating the land to grow crops. Hunters became farmers. Tribes became villages. And precious wilderness survival knowledge was soon lost to history.
The Agricultural Revolution was a boom for humans as a species. For the first time in history, people could feed and sustain large populations.
But individuals got the raw end of the deal. The nutrient-rich varied diet enjoyed by the ancient foragers was replaced by nutrient-poor domesticated grains. An exciting life spent exploring the wonders of nature was substituted for field shackles. Poor farmers spent long days tilling the same patch of dirt, and then went to bed worrying about tomorrow. Drought or flood could wipe out an entire year’s food supply. Raids by enemy camps might result in burnt silos, leaving the entire town destitute and starving.
The ancient hunter-gatherers had no such anxieties. They had no food reserves, so there was no need to worry about protecting it. If disaster struck, they simply packed up their few belongings and moved on in search of food and prosperity elsewhere.
In retrospect, humans didn’t domesticate wheat. Wheat domesticated us.
Humans became a slave to luxury. Wheat was that luxury. Food security came at a high cost. Once the hunter-gatherers became farmers, they were trapped. Specialized knowledge that had been passed on from one generation to the next for millennia had been lost. The freedom to roam and explore vast territories was stripped away, leaving a majority of peasant farmers to sweat in the fields owned by a relatively small ruling class.
The Agricultural Revolution was a trap. The ancient’s pursuit of an easier life resulted in much hardship. And there was no going back.
We do the same thing today. We’re quick to pursue luxuries that tend to become necessities that spawn new obligations.
How many young college graduates have taken demanding jobs in high-powered firms, vowing that they will work hard to earn money that will enable them to retire and pursue their real interests when they are thirty-five? But by the time they reach that age, they have large mortgages, children to school, houses in the suburbs that necessitate at least two cars per family, and a sense that life is not worth living without really good wine and expensive holidays abroad. What are they supposed to do, go back to digging up roots? No, they double their efforts and keep slaving away.”
Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens
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