We love to hear stories of the idyllic lives of hunter-gatherers who lived in harmony with nature, until the big, bad Agricultural Revolution came along, which led to a series of other revolutions, including the Industrial Revolution and the Scientific Revolution. These revolutions continuously robbed us of our equality, and made life more complicated than it needs to be. Now we must do our best to return to nature, and lose modern technology.
One word: BULL.
The lives of the hunter-gatherers were neither short and brutish, nor idyllic lives of equality and freedom. They were long and hard, though they enjoyed levels of equality. Yes, the Agricultural Revolution and the revolutions that followed robbed us of that equality, and it is slowly being won back. However, anybody who claims that life today would be better if the Agricultural Revolution had not happened is guilty of the Post Hoc fallacy. The technological revolutions were not evil, they were simply a change in human outlook and ability.
Today, instead of clinging to primitivism, an nigh-unattainable goal, we must look to the future as a time when we can find the balance between technology and nature. The computer that I work at is using electricity, adding greenhouse gases to the environment. This and many other tasks destroy the world around us continuously. However, I do not know if many humans could live without these things any more.
Instead of ignoring today's problems, and instead of trying to remove all that humanity has accomplished in the past 10,000 years, we must balance what we cause in nature with what have been turned into necessities for living. That, or we must let go of said "necessities". Which will it be? I don't know.
Life was never simple, and it probably never will be. I doubt that society at large will be able to give up some of the technologies that have developed in the past few years. When was the last time you received a hand-written letter in the mail? Imagine a crowded bus or subway system. How many of those people did you imagine with iPods or cell phones?
And yes, the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions caused the "equality" of a hunter-gatherer society to disappear, but who's to say that we should be equal? People in modern day society have so many different needs and wants, that I don't think it will be possible for everyone to be equal.
Instead, let's focus on getting everyone to have equal rights. Because we certainly aren't all the same, nor should we ever be.
Exactly what I'm saying. Note: This probably should have been entitled "primitivism"
You're an excellent writer. It was good for me to read this post. Thank you.
I think environmentalists like myself form such critiques of the current American way, because we've really paved an unsustainable model for developing nations-- a model that you may agree does not "find the balance between technology and nature."
Coal is to shaving as nuclear power is to waxing. For the time being, they are both relatively cheaper options, and each is a fast fix to the energy problem. Now, factor global warming back in --"Hairy Sustainability" by A-squared, a ProU blogger
I think you have done a pretty good job of defining the difference between these two words. The first is full of "BULL" and the second is trying to strike a balance.