Scientific American: Rates of depression have risen in recent decades, at the same time that people are enjoying time-saving conveniences such as microwave ovens, e-mail, prepared meals, and machines for washing clothes and mowing lawns. People of earlier generations, whose lives were characterized by greater efforts just to survive, paradoxically, were mentally healthier. Human ancestors also evolved in conditions where hard physical work was necessary to thrive. By denying our brains the rewards that come from anticipating and executing complex tasks with our hands, the author argues, we undercut our mental well-being.
I don’t believe modern conveniences in my home have depressed me, but just because I react that way does not mean all people do. What do you think?
Depends on the person. I’m more inclined to sit infront of a computer til I exhaust myself then sleep in to a point where my entire body aches, this is if I’m at my house and not my girlfriend’s, where I’m more likely to drink daily/nightly if the oppurtunity is open (or if the liqour is there), this is of course if I don’t have to work my low level job (where everyone is now cut down to 2 shifts a week). Maybe this can throw me into a depression, but I find it rather hard to be depressed over material things and I find the free time of not working and ability to drink fun (especially around friends, it’s uplifting).
By denying our brains the rewards that come from anticipating and executing complex tasks with our hands, the author argues, we undercut our mental well-being.
Yes, I can’t reap the benefits of doing everything myself, only if I did everything myself and worked 24/7 for the most basic things that I instead buy conveniently could I be a happier person, but instead I’ve been rewarded with being able to purchase the world’s literature at my finger tips and the ability to pirate all the world’s music online at no expense, while frequently vacationing in the mountains.
People being depressed isn’t because everything is easy, it’s because they can’t find what to do with their lives. It’s not because of convenience, it’s because of stagnation and loss of ambition for something new.
I think a much better correlation exists between government expenditure and individual well-being. The more a government spends (spending which is paid for through taxes and inflation), the less that people in general actually enjoy the fruits of their labor, that is, the more they are effectively enslaved. Even if the average person can’t put his finger on what is wrong, he senses that something is wrong. He has been born into a hamster wheel in which he must run faster and faster just to tread water. By contrast, his genes expected him to be born into an African savanna where he would have to work very hard to survive but where the successes of his efforts would be paid out in full. It is up to the most flexible organ in the body - the brain - to reconcile this massive discrepancy between biological expectations and physical reality. The symptoms of this reconciliation process are depression.
I’m not saying that modern slavery is the only reason that people are depressed. But I think it’s ridiculous to be surprised that tax-inflation slaves are unhappy. I can imagine one of these modern social scientists flying back in a time machine to do a statistical poll of African slaves arriving to auction in North America… “Excuse me, sir… do you consider yourself happy? Would you say that you think your life will be better or worse four years from now than it is today?”
The net effect of a permanent and well-oiled tax apparatus is enslavement. This is not a metaphor or simile, it actually results in slavery. That people living under such a system are increasingly depressed as every loophole in the tax system is closed should not be surprising.
