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Comment by devwastaken | Hacker News Reader

It turns out modernism is incompatible with humans. Who would have thought that taking humans out of nature and putting them in brick cubes they must constantly work to keep would result in unnatural outcomes and behaviors.

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I believe it’s important to not throw out the baby with the bathwater here. My belief is that much of modernism can be made such that people can thrive in it, but this simply hasn’t yet been a goal for the powers that be.

Much of the problems with cities for instance boil down to them being built for cars, not people. Simply replacing roads with greenery-laden paths for biking and walking would make cities much more conducive to mentally healthy citizens.

I don’t really buy this idea that’s been floating around the internet for a while now that humanity must return to thatch hut villages in the woods in order to be able to thrive.

I think we, as Humana, mentally survive a lot better in smaller local groups. Once a certain population density hits, it seens things go wrong much more quickly.

Small local groups can exist in cities, too. That’s not too far off from the concept of a neighborhood, something that is being lost in the sprawl of suburbia and commute-by-car.

While it’s likely we’re best adapted psychologically for small groups, how much of that is universally relevant in a modern context is unclear. A lot of people have left small towns in recent decades due to their often-gossipy social dynamics and the mental toll that can take… speaking from experience, coming from that being “just a number” in a city can be much needed relief.

That's not even mentioning the 8-12 hours a day many people are staring at screens. It's 1/2 - 3/4 of an alternate reality to what humans experienced from 10k BC to 1950

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