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Comment by SMAAART | Hacker News Reader

Is the rat race making us all Depressed and Anxious?

Isn't this part of the overall understated minimalism movement?

Chop wood, carry water.

I would be a lot more depressed and anxious if I wasn't sure if the neighboring tribe would murder my tribe in the night. Minimalism is great in a civilized society where you can do your own thing and be left alone, but you don't get a civilized society without a widespread social contract built on an economy.

There’s obviously much more nuance to our choices in the modern world than “live in a work-till-death society” or “live as primitives in the woods.”

For instance, many other developed nations take twice as much time off (or more) compared to American workers and seem to be doing just fine.

Yep, I agree. I just mean to say that the simple peaceful life that some are able to attain nowadays is possible due to the way our society is currently setup. Banding together in larger and larger tribes has been required because other people were doing the same and other people put their tribe's well being ahead of others. Whether they like it or not, those living the simple peaceful life are a part of our tribe and they benefit from the protection that our tribe provides.

Do you have evidence to back this up?

Not exactly, but which part are you referring to? I just made the assertions by thinking through our history from stuff I've read before and putting myself in the shoes of people in the distant past. Life was absolutely brutal in the past and I think we're all incredibly lucky to live in the time that we do now.

Oh it was brutal and we are lucky. That does not mean people were depressed and anxious back in the hunter-gatherer-tribes era. I always thought depression and anxiety were rather modern ailments.

It's a guess, but I would imagine life back then where there was constant danger from predators and other tribes would be similar to the lives of soldiers in combat now. I'd guess that ptsd isn't a new invention and that barely surviving an attack could scar individuals.

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