Summary Of The Worst Mistake In Human History By Jared Diamond

The emergence of agriculture was a major stepping stone in human history. During this birth of agriculture, also known as the Neolithic revolution, humans began inhabiting permanent settlements, grow their own crops, and domesticate both plants and animals for food (Weisdorf, 2005). Considering humans have been hunter-gatherers for the majority of their approximately 7 million years of existence, the emergence of agriculture in the Old World only occurring 10,000-5,000 years ago, marks a significant transformation in food sustenance techniques (Weisdorf, 2005). However, this turning point in history is associated with both positive and negative implications. There is much controversy over whether or not the introduction of

“The discovery of agriculture was the first big step toward a civilized life.” (Arthur Keith)

Jared Diamond, in his article, “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human race”, explains that the worst mistake that humans made was the decision to change from a hunter gatherer society into an agriculture society. Jared Diamond gives evidence of how switching from an agricultural society was a bad mistake. Many believe that adopting an agricultural society and leaving the hunter gatherer society was the way to a more qualitative and sustainable lifestyle. As Diamond says, it is true that because this society was adopted and evolved because we have longer lifespans and live better now than how people lived back in the old days. But Diamond`s claim that the hunter gatherer society gave humans more benefits individually than what the agricultural society had to offer is agreeable.

In Jared Diamond’s “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race” he kicks off by telling readers the negative effects agriculture has placed on our world that still follows us today. He believes that “with agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism that curse our existence” and that this will continue on until a change occurs (Diamond1). He explains the progressivist perspective as well but uses their reasoning as a way to back up his. Diamond is correct that human’s worst mistake is beginning agriculture because more problems occurred than it actually solved and humans are not better off this way.

Hunter- gatherers was able to consume many variety of foods, such as animals meat, berries, nuts, roots etc which are high in proteins and fiber. Farmers can only consume the crops they grew, which is limited. Additionally, the main commonly crops are rice, corn, and wheat, which is high in carbs and lacked fiber, vitamins, and proteins. As a result, farmers’ diet consists of carbs and fats, but no vitamins or proteins. The second risk is limited crop production. Farmers are easily opened to risk of starvation if their crops fail to grow. The final risk to agriculture is epidemic diseases. Agricultural encouraged farmers to get together in crowded societies in order to trade their crops, which can easily lead to spread of contagious diseases and

health. Hunter-gatherers have a varied diet, however, early farmers gained poor nutrition and cheap calories. In addition, farmers ran the risk of starvation due to the dependence on crops. Diamond states that agriculture encouraged the creation of civilizations, which then led to the spread of infectious diseases and parasites that can seriously jeopardize our health. Social inequality between deep class divisions came out of agriculture as well. According to research on skeletons from ancient times, royals had better diets than the commoners due to the fact that they were a few inches taller and had better teeth than them. Thus, Jared Diamond supports his claim that agriculture was a terrible mistake made in human history due to inequality, bad health, and a difference in lifestyles between hunter-gatherers and

Despite some of the truths in this quote like the idea that agriculture may have led to “sexual inequality, disease and despotism”, agriculture revolution still had an immensely positive impact. Following the creation of agriculture came a sedentary life style, and these two concepts led to the significant increase in human population, as it was a more stable approach to living. It is only human nature to want more, want to succeed, and want to better them selves and maintain dominance. If the adoption of agriculture had not occurred, another concept with as many negatives would have been adopted in order to take that “step toward a better life.” When one looks at the other possible routes that could’ve been taken, the agricultural progression

Subject: Reflects how these collapse of historical societies features manifest themselves in American society to gain better idea of what our future holds.

What we eat and how we eat are imPortant both nutritionally and culturally. This selection suggests that how we get what we eat-through gathering and hunting versus agriculture, for example-has draThis seemspretty obvious.We all matic consequences. imagine what a struggle it must have been before the We developmentof agricu-lture. think of our ancestors spending their days searching for roots and berries to eat,or out at the crack of dawn, hunting wi.ld animals. isn't In fact, this was not quite the case.Nevertheless, it really better simply to go to the refrigerator, open the door, and reach for a container of milk to pour into a bowl of flaked grain for your regular

Hunters and gatherers did not really get sick since they were always moving from place to place. Than agriculture people started staying in one place and their population started growing. When everyone is all together and you stay in one place disease and sickness starts its way through. An advantage for hunters and gatherers was they always were moving so not a lot of sickness would stay with them and they did not really have kids to slow them down. A disadvantage for agriculture is they stay in one place so if a sickness broke out it would stay with them and their

Agriculture gave the people the ability to grow crops whenever they wanted. This gave man power over nature. Man could grow crops again and again once food supplies ran short, but when the wild plants and animals the hunter-gatherers hunt run out, they have to pack up their things and move on. This leads to the next advantage that agricultural societies have over hunter gatherers. Agriculture based groups could settle down for long periods of time, build homes, and live stable until something happens that forces them to

However, there are those who, like Professor Jared Diamond, believe that, “With agriculture came the gross social inequality, the disease and despotism that curse our existence (WMHHR, line 6).” Many believe that adopting agriculture made life better, however, the diets of surviving hunter-gathers, which is a mix of wild plants and animals, provides more protein and a better equilibrium of other nutrients than the farmers who keep their focus on crops like rice and potatoes. It’s also shown that agriculture is bad for health. While hunter-gatherers diets varied, farmer’s diets mostly consisted of starchy crops and that didn’t allow for many calories therefore, those farmers had a poor nutrition. Agriculture also brought along disease.

Agriculture spread throughout the globe and altered and influenced the human populations it encountered. The first way agriculture spread was by diffusion, which indicates the spread of plants, animals, and agricultural techniques. Many neighboring societies took part in diffusion by swapping their ideas and products. A second way included, migration of agricultural population and the spreading of their growing populations. Both of these processes spread the agriculture throughout the globe and affected the human populations it encountered.

Between 10,000 and 1,000 BCE, replacement and transition from hunter-gathering, a nomadic lifestyle to agriculture, a sedentary society took effect. Our antecedents made an pessimistic decision on shifting to agriculture. Socially, change was seen through social and gender inequality which led to problematic societies. Poor diets and the uprise of diseases contributed to the negative aspects of agriculture.

Agricultural has been most ancient profession that was adopted by human beings. At start it was mostly for purpose to fulfill own dietary needs. The methods adopted by farmers were not very sophisticated. The yield of crops was quite less as there was no way to protect crops from diseases it was common for farmers to lose their crops against different diseases and remain with inadequate food for rest of the year. Furthermore was no agricultural equipments available for them so they can make use of large lands. However with research and technological advancements it became possible for the farmers to not only protect their crops against decides but also increase their yield with use ore more effective and sophisticated way of cultivation. (Overton, 1996 p15)