For an interesting review of an interesting? new book (Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization) see First, Do No Farm. Farming, in a nutshell, was a huge step backward for humanity. Suffice it to say you won't see Richard Manning lobbying for agricultural subsidies any time soon.
Agriculture causes obesity... Hmmm. It's hard to argue with that conclusion. Without farming, we'd all be a lot thinner. There also wouldn't be 6 billion of us. No Chicago, no New York, and no Chez Panisse either (since restaurants pretty much rely on large populations with plenty of disposable income).
So while it's hard to disagree with this conclusion, it's hard to know what to do with it either. Farming, TV, cars, and computers all have their down side, but they aren't going away. Whether good, bad, or indifferent, the genie of modernity is out of the bottle. Evolution, like Everest, doesn't care what we think about it. It just is.
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