Was it a good thing that we moved from the foragers to what we're today. Rather than calling it civilisation, we can call if the evolution was good or bad for humans (and for the whole ecosystem).
We evolved over a really long period of time. The modern era is comparatively tiny when we started on the wave of modernisation and advancement in all the fields with growing our knowledge leaps and bounds. The author tries to put a perspective that humans had a choice to stay the way we were but we chose to be different. We made a mistake by exploring how to increase the comfort and change the way we live. This in turn improved a lot of vital factors but we paid a price for that.
Unfortunately or otherwise, we always pay a price for the changes (not just for the material things), and the complicated part is that we don't realise the full potential of a life choice when we're actually making it. It shows up only in hindsight.
Another argument is that we're living longer but is this long life free from the ailments of old age. Are we the healthiest version of ourselves when we get old. Well, we're not in our best of our health even when we're young. Of course, one can counter it with the lifestyle diseases but will that stop us.
And the last thing about contentment and happiness. Are our fellow beings (animals) happier than us? Is this is a state of living or a state of mind? Does our modern day comforts do anything to make our life any better or worse? The best way is to not over generalise the outcomes.
There are some passages which sound like a rant but a reader can differ.
We may not agree on a lot of points but it is good to be aware of different thoughts. And yes, this is not a made up of things by rich.
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