What if this were true...


There's no use arguing that modern society isn't a kind of paradise. The
vast majority of us don't, personally, have to grow or kill our own
food, build our own dwellings, or defend ourselves from wild animals and
enemies. In one day we can travel a thousand miles by pushing our foot
down on a gas pedal or around the world by booking a seat on an
airplane. When we are in pain we have narcotics that dull it out of
existence, and when we are depressed we have pills that change the
chemistry of our brains. We understand an enormous amount about the
universe, from subatomic particles in our own bodies to galaxy clusters,
and we use that knowledge to make life even better and easier for
ourselves. The poorest people in modern society enjoy a level of
physical comfort that was unimaginable a thousand years ago, and the
wealthiest people literally live the way gods were imagined to have. 

And yet.

Sebastian Junger in Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging