Farming - the worst mistake ever?

About 10,000 years ago, humanity discovered farming and agriculture, or so the records tell us.

Did farming lead to the advancement of civilization, or was it the worst mistake we ever made?Farming helped us grow grains - Emer, Khorasan, Spelt, and Millets, to name a few.

The commonly accepted story is that farming resulted in the domestication of animals, including dogs, goats, and cows. Doing so gave us more free time. Art, music, and dance flourished. 

So what is wrong with story?

The renowned scientist and historian Jared Diamond presents one viewpoint. He asserts that farming was humanity's greatest error.

This led us to transition from predominantly using wild tubers, plants, and animals to a diet that consisted of potatoes and grains. 

He suggests that doing so resulted in us getting shorter and developing many more diseases, including oral diseases.

While the data to validate these ideas is sparse, there is some evidence that about 5000 years ago, men and women were taller and then progressively got shorter. They also had more bone diseases as modern society evolved. 

So should we all go back to living like our prehistoric ancestors? 

I am not a historian, but I know a little bit about nutrition. 

My biggest lesson has been that it is best to refuse to fit into a dogmatic view of what is correct. Especially one that could have been appropriate for us 5000 years ago. 

The world has changed. It has changed much more rapidly than our species was able to evolve. So not everything that changed is good for you. For example, the abundance of food in modern society results in excessive weight gain. 

But at the same time, dismissing farming as harmful for humanity is perhaps excessive. 

What is available is not the key to our species' survival. What matters is what you do with it. 

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