Book Review: Civilized To Death by Christopher Ryan

Wisdom teachers throughout time have preached the importance of knowing oneself. When we develop our self-awareness, not only do we gain a clearer sense of who we are, we also learn to appreciate how we influence and are influenced by the world around us. Self-awareness is essential for personal growth, better decision-making, and more fulfilling relationships. Knowing who we are anchors us to what’s important. Without this internal North Star, we’re easily swayed by external forces like moths drawn towards a street lamp.

Civilized to Death, by Christopher Ryan takes the concept of knowing thyself to the level of our species to understand why our collective mental and physical wellbeing feels increasingly at risk. Anatomically modern humans have been around for roughly 200k to 300k years, but civilization has only existed for roughly 10k years. Ryan argues that much of the anxiety, stress, and disconnection that we feel today can be attributed to the fact that the modern world is at odds with the world that human beings have evolved for. 

Years ago, I listened to a talk given by author and Harvard professor Steven Pinker on the ‘myth of violence’. The case that Pinker argued was, despite the widespread belief that the world was becoming more dangerous, statistically we’re living in the safest time in recorded history. Pinker shared data that showed we’re less likely to die by the hands of another than at any other point in recorded history. 

I remember the relief that his talk gave me. Watching the news had made it feel like we were living in a world of ubiquitous and increasing violence. Other academics and thinkers over the years have made similar cases that human beings are not only living in a safer world, but a more enjoyable, longer, and prosperous one. The lives of our ancestors, as described by 17th Century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, were ‘nasty, brutish, and short’. Hobbes and those that he inspired argued that we are living increasingly better lives thanks to the advancements of society. Versions of this narrative have been used by colonizers throughout history as justification to conquer and enslave indigenous peoples who are viewed as less ‘civilized.’

This widely held belief regarding society’s continuous improvement Ryan refers to as the “Narrative of Perpetual Progress” or NPP which asserts that technological and economic advancements will perpetually make our lives better. Proponents of the NPP will point to factors such as declining infant mortality rates, increasing lifespans, and rising literacy rates as indicators that life is better now than it was ‘back then’. 

On surface level, the idea that we live better than our ancestors might appear to be accurate. A common talking point in some circles is that people living in poverty today have access to resources and technologies that even the kings and queens of previous years did not possess. Electricity, indoor plumbing, antibiotics, and modern transportation are relatively recent inventions that one could argue have improved the lives of everyone. 

Although there are several metrics which support the notion that life has gotten better, Ryan argues that these studies largely ignore the lives of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Instead, they only compare data between different points in civilization, which again has only been around for roughly 10k years of our 200-300k year history. The case that Ryan makes is that agriculture and civilization were overall net-negatives for human health, well-being, and happiness, so to say things are better now than at an earlier point in civilization is to only look at a small and skewed sample out of the total set of data. 

While the medical advancements of the modern world are undoubtedly impressive, many of the illnesses that afflict humanity today can be attributed to the modern world itself. Agriculture, for example, created environments for infectious diseases such as smallpox, influenza, and tuberculosis to thrive. Deforested habitats and densely crowded conditions are the perfect breeding grounds for harmful microbes and parasites to emerge that first infect livestock before jumping to human hosts. Today, the overuse of antibiotics on livestock is greatly contributing to the rise of antibiotic resistant infectious diseases. Moreover, animal farming is a major contributing factor to environmental degradation that poisons our earth, air, and water. 

Another way the modern world contributes to illness is through its excess of high-calorie, high sugar, overprocessed, and low-nutrient dense foods. Lifestyle diseases such as obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes appear far less often contemporary hunter-gather societies. Nomadic people are far less susceptible to sedentary diseases because they move from place to place in search of food. Furthermore, when comparing the dental records of hunter-gatherers to those of agrarian societies, archaeologists have found that the former are far less likely to show signs of tooth decay. The diet of hunter-gatherers was varied and nutrient dense compared to the unvaried, starchy, soft, and processed diets that emerged due to agriculture. 

In general, our ancient ancestors were more active and had a diet that supported their bodies. They were stronger with denser bones and healthier teeth. They even had larger brains likely due to the fact that they couldn't offload mental activity onto technology like we’re able to today. But beyond the physical advantages that the hunter-gatherer lifestyle afforded our early ancestors, their nomadic way of life ensured they remained socially and emotionally fit.

For most of human history, people have belonged to close-knit communities composed of individuals who knew and cared for one another. Compared to today when many people don’t even know the other people who live on their street. So much has been said about the negative health consequences of social isolation that affects more and more people today. Being exiled from one’s community was the worst possible fate that could fall upon our ancestors. When we track the progress of civilization over time, especially since the movement of individualism, we see increasing rates of aloneness.

Ryan draws comparisons between civilization and zoos. We’re not so unlike the unfortunate creatures trapped in concrete boxes and metal cages. Just like these animal prisons, the world of today is so foreign to what our physiology and psychology is designed for. Wild animals held in captivity often show signs of psychological distress over time. They groom themselves compulsively, pluck out their feathers, and bang their heads against the walls. Is the same thing happening to us? 

When anthropologists look at the human species over our 200k-300k year history, they find periods spanning thousands of years in which very little advancement took place in regards to the tools they used. Generation after generation of people were using roughly the same technologies. When I learned this I asked myself: Why no change? 

"Necessity is the mother of invention" is a proverb that tells us that when people are faced with a challenge, creativity and innovation will help them solve the problem. Ryan speculates that these periods of technological stasis can be explained because the people of those times had everything they needed, fresh food, clean water, community, purpose. Overall, they were content and were able to handle the problems they faced with the tools they had. 

Perhaps the reason why our culture is so enthralled by progress, obsessively demanding better, faster, cheaper, is because modern humans are profoundly discontent. We are those caged animals, removed from our natural habitat, banging our heads against the concrete walls. 

I wish Ryan had spent a bit more time discussing possible ways that humanity could restructure civilization so that it was a bit better suited for our human needs. I was waiting for some clear direction at the end of the book and was disappointed when I didn’t get it. What Ryan does offer is a convincing case that civilization, in its current state, is costing us dearly. 

So what can we do? Ryan believes that the genie is out of the bottle and we’re not going back to our hunter-gatherer ways unless something catastrophic forces our hand. Even so, Earth couldn’t support 8 billion hunter-gatherers. The reason why there are so many humans is due to the abundance of food that agriculture provides. 

My takeaway from this book is that there is a reason why we can feel deep within our bones that something is wrong. The society we inhabit in many ways is failing to meet our essential needs of community, connection, and purpose. This book helps dispel the myth that the suffering we’re experiencing can be blamed on some moral failing of the individual. There’s kindness in that realization. Perhaps as more people begin to recognize the greater forces that shape our wellbeing, we can take collective action towards positive change.