Plethora Virgin 79

"Agriculture arose pretty much because hunter gatherer societies were growing in population and wanted to feed more people." And? Very few people existed back then. This is a problem, humans happen to receive great benefits from living with one another. An economy with enough division of labor for someone to create those computers you appear to like so much for example. "Hunter gatherers work less, about 3 hours a day on average(1). " This is not a benefit, they produce next to nothing. Everyone out there who demands a job can tell you you they have no wish to work less. Nor does is it likely to include the full amount of work, as hunter gatherers have to travel a lot, and since they do so on foot in pre-agricultural societies (I am excluding the so called "Hunter-gatherers" who rely on modern technology that would not be possible in a pre-agricultural society), that's a LOT of time spent walking, which is a form of work- a form of work with nothing to show for it. Productive work is not something to be avoided, every worthy human being is always on the lookout for oppurtunities for it. By the way, I do not speak french, and your source does NOT contain the information you speak of, at least not on the page you linked to. :D "They also are healthier, as forensic analysis of their bones has shown." They might be more physically fit. This does not translate to healthier. The single most important criterion of health is whether you are ALIVE. It is a minority of people in a hunter-gatherer society that even live to age 30. http://johnhawks.net... As for your bits about height... is that way taller people tend not to live as long as shorter people? :D ". Third, any modern problem one could think of, global warming, war, pollution, poverty, social inequality, persistent crime, et cetera arose from agriculture" The cause of global warming has not been proven, and the science behind finding one is in a chronically poor state. War existed in hunter-gatherer societies, it was one of the common causes of death! Pollution, though perhaps unpleasant, is the product of the industrial revolution, which is what made our current long lifespans possible. Everyone who values their life ought to go kiss the nearest smokestack for removing several things that could have killed them (not literally, ew... blow a kiss or something). Poverty is certainly an absurdity, agriculture CREATES wealth. All the nonexistence of agriculture results is EVERYONE being in poverty. Social inequality is not a problem. Crime? Remember the violence in my source being a major cause of death? "If we were still hunter-gatherers, we would not have coal plants and oil cars that emit CO2, war would be much less deadly, and much less frequent." CO2 is not a proven problem. War MIGHT be somewhat less deadly... but since it's a more common cause of death back then than it is today, it's far more frequent. Which, by the way, is not hard to explain when one hears of the short work days you speak of... how boring! Gotta do something about that boredom... why not go kill that rival tribesman? :D "Poverty would not exist because HG's worked with each other and shared food." This is a misunderstanding of the term "Poverty." Perpetuated by economists, I know. Poverty does not mean your neighbor has more than you... it means you don't have much. Which is the ONLY possibility in a hunter-gatherer society. "Crime only happens on a large scale when there are large populations, 60000 years ago, when everyone was an HG, there were only 10000 people." Crime only gets REPORTED and DEALT WITH when there are large populations. In hunter gatherer societies, they have a word for the criminal who takes your stuff and makes you his slave. They call him "Chief." Criminals are the winners =/= no crime. I should note, that hunter gatherer societies still exist to this day. It is very possible for you to go join one. In an environment where agriculture is not thought of, you don't have any choice about it :D.