Kevin Zhou

#5906

10/13/15
We Are Trapped!
Thousands of years ago, the human species fell in a deep hole when we first developed
agriculture. Agriculture looks great on the cover, with an abundance of food and increased
populations. However, these benefits have been just the bait to the trap agriculture has set up.
We decided to choose food and progress at the price of malnutrition, the introduction of deep
class divisions, and a dependence on the food grown.
Unlike hunter gatherers, farmers and the rest of civilization ate the same set of foods
that were grown. Jared Diamond stated in his article, The Worst Mistake in the History of the
Human Race hunter gatherers enjoyed a varied diet, while early farmers obtained their food
from one or a few starchy crops. He also explained to us that modern humans are mostly
eating the three high carbohydrate plants: wheat, rice, and corn. This meant that we are only
receiving a certain set of vitamins, creating a deficiency in other vitamins and amino acids
necessary for a healthy life. On the other hand, hunter gatherers were able to eat a variety of
foods they obtained from the environment. Being nomadic, hunter gatherers were able to add
many different types of foods to their diet.
Agriculture has also caused the human species to become very dependent on the crops
grown. When certain crops died or became inedible, people starved! A good example of such a
situation is the Great Irish Famine. At that time, about 40% of the population was entirely
dependent on the cheap potatoes that were grown. After the potato plants were infected with a
certain disease and failed, the farmers went down with them. Approximately a million died due
to how dependent they were on the potato when it failed. Once again, these farmers would have
been a lot better off as hunter gatherers. With no dependence on a certain food, they run low
risks of starvation.

Lastly, agriculture developed deep class divisions between humans. Jared Diamond
states that only in a farming population could a healthy, non-producing elite set itself above the
disease-ridden masses. As agriculture developed food surpluses, eventually there were those
who leached off of the farmers growing the crops. Inequalities in class divisions could be found
all over the world after agriculture was introduced. Diamond mentions how Greek royals were
taller and better teeth than the commoners due to their more enjoyable diet.
Agriculture is indeed one big trap that humans have fallen into. We were lured by the
luxury of food and progress, blind to the negative effects. Humans began to suffer from class
divisions, vitamin deficiencies, and became dependent on certain crops entirely. Trashing our
hunter gathering ways and turning to agriculture is described as the worst mistake in the history
of the human race.