> This describes almost all human activity outside agriculture. Shelter, medicine, education, transportation—none of this is biologically necessary by some measure.
Of all things, why would agriculture be the one exception from "leisure"? On the other hand why would shelter be considered anything but a biological imperative?
Shelter is essential for survival. Agriculture is the kind of advanced organized activity developed much later than foraging or hunting.
Protection from the elements is only needed in some places. If humans simply lived in the savannah and abandoned useless technologies like shelter and agriculture, we'd all be better off.
Frankly I don't see the point of shelter. What, so we're going to live in the inhospitable environment of Europe? What would be the point? We should focus on preserving and maintaining our current home.
> If humans simply lived in the savannah and abandoned useless technologies like shelter and agriculture, we'd all be better off.
Depends on your definition of "better off". According to my definition, which I suspect is most people's, we're better off with modern technology, modern medicine, the Internet, etc. than we would be if we were all savannah hunter-gatherers like our ancestors 12,000 and more years ago. The very fact that you are posting here, in a conversation that wouldn't even exist if we were all savannah hunter-gatherers because the medium and the technology would never have been invented, indicates that you want at least some aspects of all that modern technology. But you can't just pick and choose.
Figured they were being sarcastic, given they’re literally commenting on an internet forum, but perhaps we can be thankful, too, for the prevalence of modern psychiatry.
Of all things, why would agriculture be the one exception from "leisure"? On the other hand why would shelter be considered anything but a biological imperative?
Shelter is essential for survival. Agriculture is the kind of advanced organized activity developed much later than foraging or hunting.