If we’re no happier, what was that “Development” stuff all about?

In his book “The World Until Yesterday” Jared Diamond points out that there have been two human lifeways, the traditional and the modern.

Gary Snyder calls the traditional the “Old Ways.”

It’s not widely appreciated that until just three or four hundred years ago (i.e., until very recently) the vast majority of humans lived and had always lived in the Old Ways.

In “Against His-story, Against Leviathan” Fredy Perlman says that a full, comprehensive appreciation of the two yields a conclusion that the quality of life was at least as good under the Old Ways. Or, in other words, we’re no happier now (overall, considering all modern societies, many of which are exploited and oppressed by the globalized system).

It may be the case that we’ve lost more than we’ve gained from The Great Transition (transition from the traditional to the modern). If so, then what a folly to have fomented all that “development” . . . all that effort, all that expense (considering externalities like pollution, depletion, etc.) for the sake of no particular improvement in regard to the overall quality of life.

The logical question is: “Then, why??”

The answer is that some people, some layers of the population, some nations gained wealth and power from all that development . . . and their out-sized influence drove the process.

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It might be wise and worthwhile now to start to go in the other direction.