Was this humanity's biggest mistake? - BBC REEL

The Neolithic ushered in dramatic changes: civilisations with large populations, advancements in technology, arts and trade. But with the advent of agriculture, humans also began to experience malnutrition, starvation and epidemic diseases.

#bbcreel #bbc #bbcnews

[harpfully]

"Many were increasingly of the opinion that they’d all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans."
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

[headpump]

10, 000 years ago they had no clue that farming grain and livestock would lead to the madness we have now.

[martineldritch]

The switch over to agriculture was a foregone conclusion after beer-making from grass seeds was established.

[helenhunter]

"Humanity" have NEVER acted all together in anything. Start with
ONE group, somewhere.

[ChedMoLi]

I think I agree with this idea. Maybe like migratory birds and mammals, we were supposed to constantly move. Like the nature of our habitat (Earth). I think we defy what's designed for us, and now we're facing the consequences.

[naddarr]

You spend some time out in nature, I'm talking legit a few weeks and just the bare essentials, and you'd be shocked at how amazing you feel. In just a few days you're failing asleep easier and waking up right before the sun comes up without any alarm feeling refreshed. It's amazing how easy it is to just focus on the task you are doing instead of worrying about a million other things. It truly is a peaceful way of life and we'd be foolish to think that what we have doesn't take it's toll on our body. Do we go hungry no yet depression, suicide rates, and drug abuse steadily climb higher. Regardless of where this debate goes I think we can all agree that we are not made for this chaotic of a lifestyle.

[hydrolifetech]

BBC Reel's recommendation to avoid epidemics: We should have remained a hunter and gatherer society

[analoguedragon]

This reminds me of a cartoon: two guys sit in a cave. One says to the other: the water we drink is pure, the air we breathe is clean, all the food we eat is organic, we get plenty of exercise, so how come nobody lives past thirty?

[jacksawyer]

Yeah, as I lay in my comfortable bed in my air-conditioned room enjoying an ice cold beverage from my refrigerator, I often wish humanity was still scrounging for food in the jungle.

[midimitrova]

... meaning to say that even big catastrophies are sometimes started by good intentions. Humans only wanted to have plenty of pancakes for breakfast, but ended distrying their only planet.

[robertstevens]

Historically Peoples behaviour changes to give them a competitive advantage. The fact that it was not a perfect trade does not mean it was not a good trade.

[ragnaroni]

You know, without the neolithic we wouldn't have the Garand or the Shrek movie.

[jacobmycroft]

if the hunter gatherer life style was in anyway superior then they would not be having this conversation right now. Clearly these people have never spent a day in the wilderness with only a rock and stick for protection from the elements.

[krumba]

This transition from nomadic life style to sedentary is just a theory based on observations in a few archaeological sites. It does not prove that humans in other parts of the world made same transition. You can find today hunter gatherers in other parts of the world like the Amazon, parts of Africa and other places. Also like the chicken and the egg is not certain if the hunger, diseases and growth of population and technology were caused by the transition or were the cause for the transition.

[peterjeffery]

Consider the Middle East when watching this. Boundaries were drawn Post WW1 which fundamentally changed the lives of Nomadic people who had lived in the region for millennia without geographic restrictions.

[elnino]

Kind of sad that every step we take forward to be a more civilized species we end up having to take two steps back.

[oscardriver]

I am a hunter and gatherer, as soon I left behind all these agricultural minded people my life changed and I found a true potential partner. Insane how clear this is to me now.

[Nattherat]

Answer: no, no it wasn't humans biggest mistake.
The main idea is progress not perfection, the amount of amazing human triumphs that this change brought on is undescribable.
To say anything else is just puzzling

[jeff__w]

As Ian Welsh says:

“Hunter-gatherers are, generally speaking, healthier than agriculturalists and pastoralists. They live longer, suffer less from disease, are taller, the women have wider hips and suffer less from childbirth, they have better dentition and so on. The societies, again with some exceptions, are more egalitarian than most agricultural societies (though very early agricultural societies are more egalitarian than late hunter-gatherer societies, again, in general). They also have vastly more free time than agriculturalists.”

“Basically, being a hunter-gatherer is about as good as it gets for most of human existence.”

[andyginterblues]

The greatest contribution of the Neolithic period to society was the introduction of the farmer's daughter.