[darby_nine]

> What did we lose that you think would make us happier?

I strongly suspect any example I provide will be attacked, so I recommend to use your imagination. I think you can do better than this.

If you really want an example I recommend Kim Stanley Robinson's Shaman, who can write better than I can, who is thoughtful in his choice in how he uses research versus poetic license, who has already responded to critique on the novel. There's plenty worth critiquing but it's better than assuming the absolute lack of any loss. And I'd like to emphasize I don't believe in past utopia (I think anarcho-primitivism is equally lacking in imagination, perhaps even more so)—just that the idea of one-dimensional progress is moronic.

EDIT: To add on to this, Graeber points out that there's a wide span of time in between the invention of agriculture (~12kya) and the beginning of what we collectively agree is civilization (~8kya). Why this delay, if sedentary farming and market-oriented distribution offers such obvious benefits?

EDIT2: spelling

EDIT3: KSR context

[Larrikin]

I assume that it is nothing if you can't provide any examples. Slaves, blood sports, women traded for power and sex are all the things that first came to mind

Edit: It's also bad form to edit your comment after it's been replied to without indicating you edited it.

[DaoVeles]

There is a big question with Slavery and Sex trade. UN estimates about 50 million people today but I have seen some figures that put it closer to 280 million.

https://www.un.org/en/delegate/50-million-people-modern-slav...

Depending on if you are going by total numbers or a percentage of the population can sway the messaging on this wildly.

[darby_nine]

> Edit: It's also bad form to edit your comment after it's been replied to without indicating you edited it.

yea my bad, I didn't expect you to reply so quickly.

[mistermann]

> so I recommend to use your imagination

I think (certain important portions of) modern day Human's curiosity/imagination capabilities have atrophied, since we know everything. Or maybe more accurately, they've been concentrated in a narrow, specialized range: knowing everything.