<p>yeah, you bet those hunter and gatherers who discovered how plants worked were extremely smart :).</p>
<p>my vision of how the transition happened is crude ‘farming’ was slowly incorporated into the hunter and gatherer tribes who knew about the technology. they still mostly hunted and gathered, but got some help from their crops (it took a long time to domesticate and breed plants to they could be a significant food source). eventually - because it did turn out to be more reliable once it was sufficiently advanced - those groups of people who practiced it did the best, grew the most, and dominated their neighbors (i could be wrong of course… i want to look this up). that sounds like a fair story to me though.</p>
<p>I would rather live now too. the consensus of the research is that they worked much less and there was more leisure … it seems hard to dispute that. it would be nice if i could make enough money for food and shelter only working a 6 hours a few days a week. alas, i think i would have to invest in education significantly for that to be a possibility. </p>
<p>personally, i would rather not work and have be given enough money for food and basic shelter and a few other things so i could spend my time how i want to. of course, some people are happy working jobs (the idea of having a ‘career’ makes is one thing that makes it appealing) and they would be more lost without one than with one.</p>
<p>but i do think the amount people are working is too much on the average. too much in the sense that people would be happier if they could work less - if their job was 6 hours a day, not 8, or four days a week, not five. i know some research shows that in countries where the work week is shorter people seem to be happier. </p>
<p>it is true that there is this pernicious consumer culture i think where people are willing to work more to buy things that society pressures them to, not because those things improve their life or make them happier. all they do is ward off the pressure from society, which is easier to pay to relieve that to face. not sure to what extent that is true, of course.</p>