Was primitive lifestyle better or worse, and should we go back to it?

If we all ate and lived like we did in the past, would we be healthy?
I understand that living on a primitive diet is pretty healthy and most "new" diets today revolve around eating fruits, nuts, and proteins.
I would think that back then we would be in pretty good physical shape because there wouldn't be cars and we would be running to catch food and travel.
What about parasites and bugs?
Did primitive man have bugs in their hair constantly sucking their blood while they slept in tall grass or under trees?
Why do we need so many products today to keep us "healthy" (shampoo, toothpaste, soap)
Is it natural for humans to be offended by body odor or is that a result of civilization and society?
Is all our health problems caused by us creating "health products" in the first place?
I know that sodium fluoride (used in most toothpastes and put in water) is poisonous and was once used by Hitler to make people docile and non-resistant.

Another question I have is are we bound as human beings to always try to create new products and technologies?
If it wasn't for our progression in technology I wouldn't be typing this but would we be happy without these technologies?
Do we need these shampoos, computers, supplements?

What do you guys think?
Would we be better or worse without these things?

 

Hello! I believe that...
In some cases, we are better off without them. Health care has made so many progress, for better and worse, but still, we cure sicknesses just by swallowing a pill. We didn't have that before.
About the diet, they ate other animals. Most of the time. I don't think I could live with that. Besides, they weren't very cooked, so they would eat them almost raw...
I think that, nowadays, people couldn't live without these new technologies, because they represent a major part in our life. If we had never tried them, we could easily live without them. It's like the being hungry. We spend three hours without eating and we say we're starving. But there are countries in which people spend days without a proper meal, and they don't complain half as much as we do.
It just depends on your point of view.

 

Yea exactly what I'm thinking, if they weren't there I think that we would find a better way to live.
Us, as humans use innovation and create better survival tools whether it's for communication (internet) or health.

I just think that it is inevitable that we would end up the same if we started all over again.

 

Hmm,

I think there have been some great strides. For one, no way the earth could support so many without this tech. Infant and maternal mortality rates are very low. Age of death has risen. It would appear anyway. Not sure if we're any happier though. Depression seems so widespread. I think that we're so comfortable, that we're bored. Also, the distance in comfort, and in luxury, between the 'richest' and the 'poorest' has grown, astronomically. And the difference has become more visible, more obvious. I think that gulf does a lot to increase our overall distress.

But yeah, if we started all over again we would probably wander through a lot of the same steps. Maybe in a different order with slightly different results, but overall the same basic deal. I don't think starting over is the best plan, rather using what we know now to incorporate the best elements of each age.

 

A combination of the two might work,but I don't know how we'd ever get there. Greed is too prevalent and there are too many people now. In an ideal world with way fewer people and a sharper appreciation of what could be-ie:ALL having the capacity to grow their own food,live small and yet take advantage of medical and scientific advancements, the sharing of tools and labor(like the old barn raisings the pioneers did) then we'd have something.Some day down the line,we may be forced to live the old way,but because of catastrophe and not because it would have been easier on everyone to institute a form of socialism that would have enabled everyone to live more simply and fairly. Capitalism would have its place ,but not as overwhemingly prevalent as it is. Ecotopia was an interesting book,as it posited that Northern California,Oregon,Washinton be off limits to capitalism as we know it and turned back into pristine wilderness where those who wanted ,could live the old way. The problem with the way it is now is that to escape modern society--you have to join it to get the bucks to leave it!

 

Yea, I agree with that. We have come to that point. I think people who are depressed, aren't able to get out much. When I go out into nature I could never feel depressed. I think everybody should take a break from society to spend time in nature, I guess that is where vacation comes in.

People are so wrapped up in tv and social status that they forget that we used to live under trees and find our own food and we used to smell like any other animal and we didn't have this huge ego that we have today.

I guess not having to worry if you are going to get eaten by a tiger is also a plus about living in today's society but still, everybody should remember their roots, and not be so caught up in the false world of image and advertisement of products to make you beautiful or "better".

 

We would be far more absolute dependent on diet for proper functioning. An obese person while living in relative comfort in todays society would probably not survive in a proto living situation.

Primitive diets are subject to local disruption of food chains such as drought.

We have bugs and parasites now. Most of the time we keep them at bay through personal hygiene.

We don't.

It is natural for some kinds of bacterial colonies to give off an unpleasant odor.

There are many toxic side effects of modern society.

We are inherently creative but there is no requirement to create in the way that we do. We can change our mind any time.

Where our treasure lies, there is our heart also. It depends on what you value.

These things serve as you use them, they do not create our states of being.

 

I used to think about this stuff when my hair was longer and I used to put a lot of products in it to keep it untangled and shiny. I used to think what if nobody used hair products and we all just let it go and didn't care how each other's hair looked than it would be great. I guess thats why people grow dreads and why people just end up not caring what anyone thinks. I just wish everyone could get jobs no matter what their personal style is

 

Fluoride was never used by Hitler to make people more obedient, christ, did you know fluoride also is the main cause of racism. What conspiracy hasn't fluoride been in. Fluoride is naturally found in many water shed areas, if you live in western/south western part of the US, Argentina, most of India, parts of China, and the great lakes region, you get more fluoride naturally in your ground water than cities that add it to their water supplies.

I would also think body odor is something people grew use to but over time as people began to move less and had chances to bathe in water more began to realize smelled pretty bad. Bathing at least in rivers in terms of just washing your skin with water is pre history, the first known actual soaps to make people actually be and smell cleaner pre date Babylon, and it's cliche but the Egyptians were neurotic about being clean, in a time when most people still lived dirty and sweaty lives as farmers. Psychologically being clean is a status symbol, that's why people are attracted to it, it shows you've had the free time in your life to actually bathe your body and try to make it appear better.(I'm talking 80,000 years ago, free time to bathe has even pre-civilization not been an issue anymore)

And yes we would create more technology, it's a very human impulse to try to understand and manipulate the universe around us, we are explorers both in geographic area and science.

Also even up to pre industrial revolution the average lifespan was about 35.

Simply put, we don't live hunter-gather lifestyles anymore because the second someone figured out how to farm everyone said fuck this and stopped.

 

Good way of looking at it

 

I'm not sure I would count the size of the human population to be a measure of benefit. We evolved as wanderers, our sedentary agriculture has disproportionately fed the proliferation of our species to the point that we strain the circulatory capacity of the earth to recycle the excrement.

 

Overweight people tend to burn calories more slowly, which would give them an advantage in a situation where food supplies are not dependable. Such people are more likely to survive famines. They wouldn't be obese living like that, but they would still have a supply of body fat to live off during lean times.



When you gain something you lose something. We have plenty of food, but we're ingesting a lot of junk food and being overweight has become epidemic. We're living longer but becoming more dependant on medication to keep us healthy, or at least feeling healthy. Life has become less of a struggle for survival, but now our population is growing out of control and we could be headed for a worldwide ecological disaster as a result.

 

Haha yea.
I'm still looking into the fluoride thing but it helps to know that it naturally there in water or else i'd still be iffy about our water supply.

Also, I agree that bathing was and is a status symbol just as being healthy and in shape is.

And yea, i guess it is a human impulse to manipulate the world around us to benefit our survival.

Just like when humans made weapons by breaking rocks and then started making contraptions to throw them and then eventually we got to shooting them out of guns.

If you look at hygiene as a social status than it seems to make sense. Our main purpose is to be more successful and powerful than the next human being, and we show it off by wealth, owning technology, and outer image.

When you live in the Los Angeles area, you seem to notice it more

 

I kind of like not dying from unclean drinking water and infections. It's also nice to have a hospital around if you get seriously injured.

I do wish the processed and prepackaged foods would go away. People have forgotten how to cook because it's too easy to heat up something ready-made and full of junk.

 

Every study I've heard of that tries to rate happiness has shown that I guess 2nd world? Countries citizens usually rate themselves happier than 3rd world and the elite industrialized countries.

So certainly all these toys, gadgets, and gizmos don't provide us with more overall satisfaction in life but I think we are past the point where any sort of return to extremely primitive life would be worthwhile.

 

I was thinking of current levels of fitness against the level of fitness required to acquire food in that environment. I agree with what you say on this issue.

 

The only thing wrong is modern life is excessive consumption and excessive advertising (which are conveniently tied together).

 

I have a beautiful 4 year old daughter, and a really cool 4 month old son, who's just learning how to smile at me, and play peek a boo. What must have been like, to be a Daddy back in The Good Old Pre-Technological Days, and to have known that, probably, childhood diseases would kill them both before they could grow up?

 

What a great fatherly perspective on my question. Thank you

 

No, I would rather stay right in this time frame. I would like to see some things a little more simplified in life. Those are personal things and many I can do.