Really, there’s only a few things basically wrong with civilization. They’re fundamental things that define civilization, but they’re startlingly few in number. Everything else are simply the consequences of those points, and those can be charted out forever. And yet, underlying each of them is the theme of almost every Greek tragedy: hubris. The basic conviction that we can improve upon what the gods (or evolution) have created. We chuck what worked and substitute our own. We chuck the hunter-gatherer mode we evolved with in favor of catastrophic agriculture. We chuck normal walking for “cow walking.” There’s not a lot of fundamental problems, just a few, with many, many consequences—and all of them spring from our conviction that we know better.

Of course, we don’t, and we tend to learn that the hard way.

Comment by Jason Godesky — 29 June 2007 @ 9:23 AM