The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race

Originally posted by sonhouse
So when the population reaches 10 billion and we can only support 3 and 7 starve to death, that is when your lord will come down and save the rest of the foolish humans?

How did you get that idea from my statement?

Originally posted by rwingett
http://anthropology.lbcc.edu/handoutsdocs/mistake.pdf

This is a five page article by Jared Diamond, author of books such as [b]Guns, Germs, and Steel, and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, which some of you may be familiar with. In it he puts forward the theory that agriculture was the worst mistake in the history of th ...[text shortened]... to hear it from someone a little more conversant with the facts than I. Anyway, I recommend it.[/b]

Interesting read, thanks.
IF the theory is correct, then what would be the remedy or solution?

Originally posted by sonhouse
Ah, the shame of it, not being able to live without deodorant! People have killed for less🙂

I like my creature comforts ;-p

Originally posted by Penguin
In many ways, you are right.

People in hunter-gatherer societies tend to be more content.
They tend to have more leisure time.
They have a smaller impact on the environment.

The invention of agriculture certainly changed all that.

However...

Hunter-gatherer societies have the same level of control over their environment as any other animal spec ...[text shortened]... term) before farming. At least now there is the possibility of saving ourselves.

--- Penguin.

Well I have read it now and he may well be right on many points. Agriculture has enabled a population explosion (and indeed was essential to support the population expansion that the hunter-gatherers were experiencing), but has a huge associated cost in terms of health and 'quality' of life.

However he has not addressed my argument from page 3, that because of agriculture and the technological advances that it enabled, we are now in the unique position of having the potential to escape the eventual annihilation that is certain for all life on the planet.

I'd like to hear your responses to that point (I made it far better on page 3).

--- Penguin.

Originally posted by shahenshah
Interesting read, thanks.
IF the theory is correct, then what would be the remedy or solution?

Scandinavia?

The issues seem to be;

Disease - Cured by modern medicine and hygiene

Nutrition - Cured by understanding the concept and eating a varied diet

Lack of free time - Cured by being less about profits and more about happiness as the basis for a societies success
[and given an average lifespan of 26 yrs (I would be dead already) and the fact that employment is
not necessarily unpleasant, and can actually be enjoyable, I hold that even in USA & UK where we
are very work not play biased, we still get vastly more play in our lives due to sheer length.
heck, nowadays many people live in retirement alone longer than the entire lifespan of these people did
coupled with the invention of childhood, and free time while of working age I would expect the average person
today to get more free time alone than the entire lifespan of a hunter gatherer, and while the farmers may
have had more illness than the hunters, they both had way way more than we do.]

Fighting/war - We have less of that the more civilisation we get, (and the less religion btw, but that's a side note), I again say Scandinavia.


I still hold that our extelligence is what makes us remarkable as a species.
It is what truly sets us apart from everything else on the planet, and it is what gives us the potential to move beyond it's confines and
survive the catastrophes that would otherwise exterminate us.
While at the same time making that survival worth while.
And it would never have been possible without agriculture, so I can't possibly class it as a mistake.

I do recognise that there have been downsides, they are outweighed by the upsides.

Originally posted by sonhouse
Ah, the shame of it, not being able to live without deodorant! People have killed for less🙂

Unfortunatetly we live in world where adverisers will take something like that and run with it-and people will buy it!!

(A comedy team over here(Australia) asked some female "Lynx deodorant" employees to tell them how manly and attractive they smelt after spraying it on their bodies.
They were all repulsed-and they were employed by the company! I dont know what they got in them little gas bottles, but it doesn't attract women like the ads say...)

Originally posted by karoly aczel
Unfortunatetly we live in world where adverisers will take something like that and run with it-and people will buy it!!

(A comedy team over here(Australia) asked some female "Lynx deodorant" employees to tell them how manly and attractive they smelt after spraying it on their bodies.
They were all repulsed-and they were employed by the company! I d ...[text shortened]... w what they got in them little gas bottles, but it doesn't attract women like the ads say...)

No but I am pretty sure BO repels them ;-)

Originally posted by googlefudge
No but I am pretty sure BO repels them ;-)

you mean "BO repels them AS WELL" 😉

Originally posted by karoly aczel
you mean "BO repels them AS WELL" 😉

Ah but how can you tell if they were not just repulsed by the comedians?
The deodorant might have had no effect at all, or did have an effect but was
overwhelmed by the repulsive field generated by the comedians...
Maybe it is only repulsive when attempting to court the said ladies, but has no
effect if you just sit next to them.


I think some controlled experiments are needed ;-)

EDIT: I do retro winks.... totally intentional.... move along, move along....

Incidentally I would like to add that I for one am still interested in the Original topic of this thread, but am waiting for a response to mine or others posts to further respond to....

Originally posted by googlefudge
Scandinavia?

The issues seem to be;

Disease - Cured by modern medicine and hygiene

Nutrition - Cured by understanding the concept and eating a varied diet

Lack of free time - Cured by being less about profits and more about happiness as the basis for a societies success
[i] [and given an average lifespan of 26 yrs (I ...[text shortened]... istake.

I do recognise that there have been downsides, they are outweighed by the upsides.

For those of us who didn't know what extelligence is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extelligence

Originally posted by sonhouse
For those of us who didn't know what extelligence is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extelligence

sorry... I forgot most people don't know that word, I use it quite a lot so most of the people I know in the real now know it ;-)

Originally posted by karoly aczel
Unfortunatetly we live in world where adverisers will take something like that and run with it-and people will buy it!!

(A comedy team over here(Australia) asked some female "Lynx deodorant" employees to tell them how manly and attractive they smelt after spraying it on their bodies.
They were all repulsed-and they were employed by the company! I d ...[text shortened]... w what they got in them little gas bottles, but it doesn't attract women like the ads say...)

I wonder how many of those tested still have their jobs?

Originally posted by googlefudge
Ah but how can you tell if they were not just repulsed by the comedians?
The deodorant might have had no effect at all, or did have an effect but was
overwhelmed by the repulsive field generated by the comedians...
Maybe it is only repulsive when attempting to court the said ladies, but has no
effect if you just sit next to them.


I think some c ...[text shortened]... are needed ;-)

EDIT: I do retro winks.... totally intentional.... move along, move along....

Well it was funny. Not one of those 4 or 5 women were even going to fake liking it, all the while knowing that they were on camera....

Move along, move along🙂

Originally posted by sonhouse
I wonder how many of those tested still have their jobs?

So do I.

Needless to say that these blokes were not ugly by any means and were perfectly neatly dressed,etc.
It was just the Lynx!!

(This is close to my heart as I get that stuff every year for Xmas. Mums-you gotta love 'em)