• Masimatutu
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    Yeah, but that was just for about 15-20 hours a week. And besides, we are evolutionarily optimised for a lot of movement. I, at least, feel that the more exercise I get, the happier I am.

    The diseases part I can get, but overall our lifestyles were a lot better for us since that was what we evolved for, so overall we were a lot healthier while we were alive (additionally, because we weren’t stationary and moved the whole time and because the groups were small, diseases were less prevalent). I think a short, happy life is way better than a long, miserable one.

    Edit: There’s this book by the anthropologist James Suzman which deals with just this subject called Affluence Without Abundance. I can recommend it, but here’s a short NPR article in which he is interviewed and the key points are summarised: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/10/01/551018759/are-hunter-gatherers-the-happiest-humans-to-inhabit-earth