Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress
2018 • 304 pages
Ratings3
Average rating5
15
Ratings3
Average rating5
The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Sex at Dawn explores the ways in which “progress” has perverted the way we live—how we eat, learn, feel, mate, parent, communicate, work, and die—in this “engaging, extensively documented, well-organized, and thought-provoking” (Booklist) book. Most of us have instinctive evidence the world is ending—balmy December days, face-to-face conversation replaced with heads-to-screens zomboidism, a world at constant war, a political system in disarray. We hear some myths and lies so frequently that they feel like truths: Civilization is humankind’s greatest accomplishment. Progress is undeniable. Count your blessings. You’re lucky to be alive here and now. Well, maybe we are and maybe we aren’t. Civilized to Death counters the idea that progress is inherently good, arguing that the “progress” defining our age is analogous to an advancing disease. Prehistoric life, of course, was not without serious dangers and disadvantages. Many babies died in infancy. A broken bone, infected wound, snakebite, or difficult pregnancy could be life-threatening. But ultimately, Christopher Ryan questions, were these pre-civilized dangers more murderous than modern scourges, such as car accidents, cancers, cardiovascular disease, and a technologically prolonged dying process? Civilized to Death “will make you see our so-called progress in a whole new light” (Book Riot) and adds to the timely conversation that “the way we have been living is no longer sustainable, at least as long as we want to the earth to outlive us” (Psychology Today). Ryan makes the claim that we should start looking backwards to find our way into a better future.
Reviews with the most likes.
Was transitioning from a nomadic hunter-gatherer society to an agricultural one worth it?
Is Civilization really good in the long term? Was it inevitable?
This book discusses how civilization and the agricultural revolution (12,000 years ago) changed human living conditions and all our social relations. One of the arguments is that the Narrative of Perpetual Progress, or NPP, creates inequality, suffering and subjugation.
One interesting observation in the book is how the agricultural societies changed the role of women throughout history. In a nomadic society women used to breastfeed children for years, and biologically that naturally created a decrease in women fertility because of hormones. Women had less children and were active members of the tribe, contributing in equal levels as of men. After transitioning to a more settled society, ownership of land became important, cattle could provide milk to feed children and women started to be subjugated to the “breeder” role, having more frequent pregnancies. And the rest is history.
It was a fascinating read but not too hopeful. It seems that we are way past the point-of-no-return and only big improbable changes in our society could revert the damaging effects of civilization. It's good food for thought, tho.
