What do you think life would be like if the Neolithic Revolution had never happened?

Question

For those of you unaware of what the Neolithic Revolution is, it is what caused humanity (for the most part) to leave behind our nomadic lifestyle and form civilization.

Answer 1

Life would be crap, basically. Today our main daily fear is "What will the boss say if I'm late?" for a caveman it was "is there a leopard creeping up on me?" - which is of a slightly higher level of importance! also medical care would be whatever herbs were growing locally. And worst, there'd be no internet.

Answer 2

You can count me as one of the people who think that it was a bad idea. Life was hardly a nirvana back then, but there are many things that just weren't as big of problems back then.

First, there were fewer diseases. A lot of the diseases we get now come or came from living too closely with animals. The plague, anthrax- lots of germs were able to mutate and infect humans because of our close living situations with animals. Lack of sanitation, which is less of a problem with a moving population, and the sort of crowding that you get in cities also cause more disease.

Second, our diet was better. Humans are just now regaining the heights common pre-Neolithic Revolution, and that's because we're all taking our multivitamins now. Also, because we relied on more kinds of food, we were less vulnerable to drought and famine. The Irish Potato Famine wouldn't have been such a problem back then, because you would just eat something else, which was not an option for the Irish farmers. Hunter/gatherers tend to have a much more varied diet than us agriculturalists. Also, since they were getting fewer carbs, they had fewer cavities.

Then there's population. Hunter/gatherer societies can't support high populations, so they don't. Too many people, and everyone dies out because there's not enough food. Any society that manages to survive has to work out various means to limit population growth. Agriculturalists are just now working on that problem; until now, we've been able to just kill a few more hunter/gatherers and take their land. Just now we're running out of land, so we've got to solve that problem quickly.

Again, non-agricultural societies certainly have their share of problems. Don't believe anyone, though, that tries to convince you that life back then was nasty, brutish, and short. Hunter/gatherers only have to work around twenty hours a week, and those are the modern ones that've managed to survive in hostile environments. Imagine what it was like in fertile areas. Pre-agricultural peoples had, and still have, gorgeous art and complex religious beliefs.

Answer 3

So, now they have attached a title to a natural progression?
We would all be hunters, gatherers and dying of smallpox and of childbirth. Out teeth would be bad, our apendixes would rupture, we would be eaten by wild animals.

Answer 4

It would be much better for us and for the planet too.