Civilized to Death
The Price of Progress
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4.6 • 51 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Sex at Dawn explores the ways in which “progress” has perverted the way we live—how we eat, learn, feel, mate, parent, communicate, work, and die—in this “engaging, extensively documented, well-organized, and thought-provoking” (Booklist) book.
Most of us have instinctive evidence the world is ending—balmy December days, face-to-face conversation replaced with heads-to-screens zomboidism, a world at constant war, a political system in disarray. We hear some myths and lies so frequently that they feel like truths: Civilization is humankind’s greatest accomplishment. Progress is undeniable. Count your blessings. You’re lucky to be alive here and now. Well, maybe we are and maybe we aren’t. Civilized to Death counters the idea that progress is inherently good, arguing that the “progress” defining our age is analogous to an advancing disease.
Prehistoric life, of course, was not without serious dangers and disadvantages. Many babies died in infancy. A broken bone, infected wound, snakebite, or difficult pregnancy could be life-threatening. But ultimately, Christopher Ryan questions, were these pre-civilized dangers more murderous than modern scourges, such as car accidents, cancers, cardiovascular disease, and a technologically prolonged dying process? Civilized to Death “will make you see our so-called progress in a whole new light” (Book Riot) and adds to the timely conversation that “the way we have been living is no longer sustainable, at least as long as we want to the earth to outlive us” (Psychology Today). Ryan makes the claim that we should start looking backwards to find our way into a better future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Modernity is toxic, brutal, and insane compared to the blithe existence of ancient and contemporary hunter-gatherers, according to this fervent jeremiad. Ryan (Sex at Dawn) paints a rose-tinted portrait of nomadic "foragers" who lead healthy, happy, peaceful lives in "an egalitarian world of shared plenitude"; value "generosity, honesty and mutual respect"; work just 20 hours a week; enjoy sex with multiple partners; and respect women and LGBTQ people. Unfortunately, with the arrival of agriculture and fixed abodes, the foragers' "gods of ease and play, pleasure and laughter" succumb to civilization's "god of toil, sacrifice, scarcity and submission." The results are disastrous: patriarchy, war, high-carb diets, cancer, sexual repression, environmental destruction, tooth decay, "rich asshole syndrome," overprotective parenting, and toilets that thwart humans' natural squatting posture. Ryan updates the centuries-old theme of mankind's "fall from grace" with a one-sided selection of anthropological and psychological studies, while jousting with pro-civilization ideologues such as Steven Pinker. He notes the high rates of childhood mortality among hunter-gatherers, and concedes that prehistoric foragers developed agriculture to keep from starving, but reckons death "a relatively minor event" when capping a gloriously uncivilized life. Ryan's anti-progress polemic is entertaining and provocative, but not very convincing.
Customer Reviews
Against Growth for Growth’s Sake
This book poses a compelling argument against the current blind faith in progress and unfettered free-market capitalism. It does not argue for a whole new system but to at least look under the hood and ask questions like, does our healthcare system treat illness or actually prolong the dying process? Or, are we really working meaningful jobs that have us devoting 60% of our waking hours to an”occupation” that keeps us away from the networks that actually support us and bring us joy?
The screeching sound of the brakes being slammed on the hedonic treadmill of everyday life for billions brought on by the 2020 pandemic, has exposed a lot of “gaps” in our perception of modernity. Specifically, the idea of growth for growth’s sake. We surely can’t come out of the Covid crisis and think we can still build to the moon, that retail will be the same, not re-analyze school and education delivery models, or challenge companies to revalue frontline workers and the need to be in the office everyday.
Ryan mentions in his book that, “...the economies in which we’re currently trapped thrive on growth—even at the expense of human well-being. Endless growth is the ideology of conventional economics and the cancer cell.” I agree and think that we need new metrics and evaluations for what is progress and defining civilization; or we risk destroying ourselves chasing an unfulfilling growth at any cost game. Instead of looking at the GDP and Stock Market returns to gauge a country’s success, we should be looking at real human outcomes. Safety, health, social engagement, suicide rates, freedom of identity, and meaningfulness in work.
I gave it only three stars because I think that writers like Malcolm Gladwell achieve the same society level introspective analysis with more pragmatic application and more engaging narrative. Ryan’s style is a pessimistic one, even if his analysis is correct and anecdotes interesting. I wish he had spent more time on contrasting examples where civilization works in comparison with where it doesn’t and how we bridge the divide.