would you rather have lived 10,000 years ago?

Hi all,

The reason I am starting this thread is to basically get peoples thoughts on modern life and how I think it robs people of happiness.

I think that most people are walking slaves and don't even realise it, modern life is like a big prison. We work all day to buy things we don't need and yet while we are working we are providing things that people don't need.

We have been tricked into thinking we do need 'things' when we don't. All the while this false belief keeps us making more money for the rich and greedy at the top of the demographic ladder.

I wonder if that we as people would be happiest if we lived the way we did pre - civilization. Imagine waking up with no bills to pay, you can do and go where you want, no boss to please ect.

All you need to do is get food and live in a shelter and pro-create. Of course there would be dangers and we wouldn't live as long.

Im not asking wether you would feel safer but if you would be happier roaming free. For all the negatives of a pre-historic life I do wonder if it would be worth a try.

What do you think? Is roaming free how we should be or is the fact that we have progressed to live in civilized societies proof that this is where we would be happiest?

Cheers everyone!

I wouldn't mind visiting back then for a while - but not to live for good.

I wouldn't want to live back then. I like the idea that I get to go to the dentist twice a year and that I won't die from an infected tooth like they did back then. I like the idea that I get to go to the doctor for checkups and can catch things early (like melanoma and glaucoma etc etc) so they can be treated. I like eating my food and not having to worry about my food eating me before I can kill it.

Visit = yes.
Live there = no.

No, I figure we wouldn't know what we do now, or have any common sense.

The time I would choose, is whichever day the SHTF, seems very fascinating, would be a strange and exhilirating time!! Depending on basic instinct whilst having modern technology scarce but available,

Originally posted by el.rebelde
The reason I am starting this thread is to basically get peoples thoughts on modern life and how I think it robs people of happiness.

IMHO, being alive at any time basically robs you of happiness. Life is basically a horror, inside a fragile organic shell driven by pain, punctuated by fleeting moments of happiness, destined to end badly. Death makes a mockery of all our hopes, dreams, and efforts. It would be tragic, if it wasn't so common.

reply to post by Nohup

IMHO, being alive at any time basically robs you of happiness. Life is basically a horror, inside a fragile organic shell driven by pain, punctuated by fleeting moments of happiness, destined to end badly. Death makes a mockery of all our hopes, dreams, and efforts. It would be tragic, if it wasn't so common.

Dear loving god dude, you tried prozac ? Life is hard enough without you pointing out how really hard it is lol

Waking up and working the fields so that you can eat, not knowing if/when you'd have food would kinda suck. You wouldn't live as long, superstition would be everywhere, ritual sacrifice of animals and humans, ect. Things are much easier now lol. I don't think we can envision what it would be like by just saying "you'd be free!". You'd know nothing about the world. You could very well be a slave.

"We" have not all been tricked into anything, some maybe but we are free people. Information is avaliable now and that is really important.

A good answer to this question is, how many people do you know that would/are permanently go camping? Hardly anyone chooses to live outside of society, but no one one is stopping someone from making that choice.

Originally posted by Nohup

Originally posted by el.rebelde
The reason I am starting this thread is to basically get peoples thoughts on modern life and how I think it robs people of happiness.

IMHO, being alive at any time basically robs you of happiness. Life is basically a horror, inside a fragile organic shell driven by pain, punctuated by fleeting moments of happiness, destined to end badly. Death makes a mockery of all our hopes, dreams, and efforts. It would be tragic, if it wasn't so common.

The guy above me already said it, but I thought of it before I read it, lol. We have antidepressants now! We're driven by pleasure really, in a day I'd say most of us would have fleetlng moments of discomfort, not the other way around.

[edit on 9-4-2009 by ghaleon12]

Good thread. Me like much. Me would go back in a heartbeat, If that were at all possible. Our current civilization is built to put stress on us.

I would rather we rebuilt our civilization. It needs it. But if that doesnt work, I take comfort in the fact that one day my 3 dimensional body will cease to breathe, and I will be truly free again.

reply to post by el.rebelde


One thing that they lacked 10,000 years ago was something that most people could not do without.....toilet paper!!! How would ya like to live life without that one item???

Originally posted by Le Colonel
Good thread. Me like much. Me would go back in a heartbeat, If that were at all possible. Our current civilization is built to put stress on us.

I would rather we rebuilt our civilization. It needs it. But if that doesnt work, I take comfort in the fact that one day my 3 dimensional body will cease to breathe, and I will be truly free again.

This is nothing though, the Roman civilization worked because I think like 30% (or maybe it was around 15%, can't remember) of the population were slaves. Of course, not 10,000 years ago but a long time ago none the less. So if you think this society is built on stress..
Iimagine having a horrible illness, no one would even take care or you or care, at least now people can generally get help. And if you really want to go back 10,000 year you can still do that, just go live your life out in some obscure jungle.

reply to post by rangersdad


Ask an Indian lol.

[edit on 9-4-2009 by ghaleon12]

When i was fifteen, I hurt my knee in a rugby match.. it subsequently became internally infected which turned to blood poisoning etc etc and I had to spend two weeks in hospital on an array of antibiotics and treatments, fighting to keep my leg and possibly my life..


Had that been 10,000 years ago.. I would have died at the ripe old age of fifteen...

So ill stick to the modern day.

Many of us did live 10,000 years ago. It will all come back to us one day soon.

Exciting times ahead!

Be In Peace

No,

this is truly an incredible time in history!

The work a day lifestyle would not be possible though, if we had solar power, and gardens, and built our own homes! MONEY IS UNNESSESSARY!

... But how would we buy things like computers... ? ... I have not figured that out yet, so perhaps a form of currency is needed, and it should be something that cannot be manipulated.

[edit on 9-4-2009 by Time=Now]

These are exciting times. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

reply to post by el.rebelde
hmmmmmmm let's see that's a hard one.

10,000 years ago:

- No indoor toilets, showers or tubs
- No deodorant (wow can't imagine that one)
- No toilet paper (ewwwwwww)
- No central heating
- No drive thru's fast food would be chasing down a deer
- No antibotics
- No laws, another tribe could just come along and slaughter you while asleep.
- No computers, internet, the cooking channel or books
- People even more savage than they are today - seeing someone kill a animal or a fellow human being was common back then.

Nope, as much as things suck now I suspect that back 10,000 years ago life was a lot suckier.

I'm eating Chinese take out while sitting in a nice warm house and typing on a keyboard. In a little while I will throw my nice (I didn't have to make them) clothes in a washing machine and then air dry them.

Later I will also take a nice warm bath using my Geranium Rose Soap and sip a glass of wine, afterwards I will then crawl into a nice warm bed with my two down comforters and drift off to sleep smelling my rose lavendar oils I put on and not have to worry about a wild animal eating me alive.

My work day is 8 to sometimes 10 hours long but I don't have to go to the local river and wash my clothes and carry water back for 2-3 miles (Some people in 3rd world countries still do).

In the later part of the 1800's up until the washer was invented, it took an average of two people (usually mother and daughter) 12 hours to do the clothes washing for a average family.

Yes life is rough, but just looking at pictures of my relatives from the late 1800's one can see that just a few short centuries ago life was indeed rough.

10,000 years ago. No way. As bad as you think life is now, we're living like kings compared to the average smuck in previous eons.

if you enjoy this topic, I highly suggest you read KV's book, "galapagos"

I would like to try victorian London. Every time I see any version of a xmas carol, it just appeals to me, the coal fires, fingerless gloves, shopping in a local open air market.

ummmm..... NO!

#1 No feminine hygiene! (I won't elaborate)

#2 No Medicine, imaging, treatments, cures, etc. (Bacteria, Parasites, indigestion, pain meds, dentistry, child bearing, etc.)

#3 No plumbing, showers, baths, soap, (talk all you want, if your not in the tropics, sub-tropics or geothermal area, your not going to make this easy)

#4 No feminine hygiene!

I see benefits on both sides. Here in the future we have computer games and convenient medicines. Back 10000 years we have healthy fruits and meats, unprocessed etc, but there's a lack of variation. More nature though but overall I'd say most of us are better off where we are

Thanks for all your input,

Because of the nature of the post I think many people assumed that I am not happy with my life now and that I 'think I have it rough', as it happens my life literally couldn't be any easier - unless I won the lottery.

I dont have to work.

I spend all my time making music, which I love.

I get plenty of time to do things that I like, like exercise and post on ATS.

I have a great family and a beatiful girlfriend.

I am still in my twentys, YEY.

I just wonder sometimes if we have taken civilization to far? I fully realise the fact that living in the past would suck on so many levels but I also wonder if in some way it would be better for us.

I guess I just crave the excitemet, adventure and also the risk that an old school life would bring.

But yes I would probably hate it in reality - esp is something went wrong.

Cheers.




[edit on 10-4-2009 by el.rebelde]

reply to post by el.rebelde


Indeed, I know exactly what you mean.

My idea of Utopia is a small community without religion (not without spirituality), based on farming and mutual support.

We don't need a central government dictating our lives. People know instinctively what is correct and what isn't, and in cases where it isn't local law should apply.

I've often thought that if I had the opportunity today, I'd leave my town and join a commune. Unfortunately, they no longer seem to exist in the same way. There are often religious overtones and the regime I want to escape is often simply being replaced by another.

The perfect scenario?
A community of 1000.
Farming economy based on exchange and barter.
A town hall where ten elders are elected each year by that community (not to rule, but to guide and oversee communal voting on routine issues).
Education based around the family, but also shared responsibility.
Local energy production.
Community housing constructed as needed by that community.
And, dare I say it, "intelligent" reproduction rules (emphasis on maintaining population through education and willingness rather than law).

It will inevitably happen, because the Human race cannot support itself. There will be an event, probably in many thousands of years, to force change.

I wouldnt go back 10,000. I'd go back a couple hundred or so for sure.

All I ever wanted to provide for my land and have it provide for me. You can't do that when you're working to pay property tax on the land all the time.

I just want to go somewhere where no government can find me and in turn oppress me.