An Incompatible World

The environment we have created isn’t beneficial for us, or any other species. The article can end here, but let’s elaborate.

Put simply we are Homo sapiens and as such, our bodies have evolved to suit a particular environment and lifestyle. We are however quite adaptable. This is evident from finding ancient sapiens all over the globe inhabiting a variety of environments, and how we have adapted to different environments today. But this fast paced, brightly lit technological space, just isn’t for us. While the industrialised countries have had a while to develop this type of environment, the rest of the world is fast catching up. 

It still amazes me how one species can take over the globe in this way, inhabiting majority of the landmass in some form or fashion, utilising huge amounts of energy that comes into the biosphere and essentially taking that energy away from other species. The creation of our purpose built environment is not only detrimental to us, but to other species and the planet at large. 

I could go on for a few thousand words on the various aspects of modern incompatibility, but let’s condense it down to a few points. 

From Green to Grey Jungles

We evolved in green. Our eyes are so in tune with green that it is the colour we can detect the most variation of. Today we live in monochrome with grey roads, glass buildings, and white walls. We have to purposefully add colour to our lives with the colours in our home, the clothes we are and the things we put on our faces. We have to purposefully but nature back in with indoor plants, outdoor gardens and going to places of nature to calm down.

An interesting transition considered to be progress. In the technological world, progress was going from black and white to colour. 

Grey Jungles by Perveen Kaur

From Organised Day and Night Rhythms to Constant Light

Day and night were distinct concepts a while back. Circadian rhythms are dependent on day and night, regulating the body for certain processes. Light is detected by the eyes, a process which began its evolution 600 million years ago as a simple light sensor. 

We’ve taken this concept away. Today, we can live like its daylight all day long with our bright bulbs and blue light coming from our devices. Blue light is part of the visible spectrum of light and is emitted by the sun playing a crucial role in regulating our circadian rhythms. It boosts alertness during the day, so we can be awake when it’s light out and function optimally. During the day, melatonin builds up naturally in the brain so that when the light goes down, we are tired to sleep when it’s dark outside. However, blue light is also emitted from our devices mimicking the blue light from the sun. This in turn disrupts the melatonin production leading to disturbances in sleep. 

From Rare Sugary Fruits to Aisles of Refined Sugary Snacks

Sugar is rare in the natural world. It’s typically found in fruit but fruit isn’t readily available and is usually fairly difficult to get to in the wild. Flowering plants leading to fruit only evolved 135 million years ago, before this fruit wasn’t even around. Our brains and bodies, and indeed the brains of other species, are evolved to cope with rare findings of sugary things. They are highly prized in the natural world. This triggers our reward system to remember the location of sugary foods in the wild and create a craving. 

Today however, sugar is everywhere and quite difficult to avoid in the products we buy. Moreover it is refined sugar and many products we purchase are stripped of nutritional value, replaced with chemical concoctions in order to create appeal, addiction and repeat purchases. 

When the brain is exposed to something that over-stimulates it like excess sugar, potent drugs and other addictive behaviours like tech addiction, it has a mechanism that slowly builds tolerance. This is to maintain homeostasis, a sense of balance in the processes of the brain and body. Over-stimulation of any process will throw off the balance of the whole system. The building of tolerance also means that future experiences of over-stimulation will feel slightly less pleasurable, causing us to want to increase the amount of consumption to compensate for the tolerance. Eventually it will create tolerance and habits that withdrawal of the stimulating factor feels rather negative. 

From 12 Miles a Day of Walking to 12 Hours a Day of Sitting

It is said that hunter gatherers walked up to 12 miles a day in search of food, shelter and perhaps other groups of individuals. Majority of us can’t imagine walking 12 miles a day. Today, many of us will spend the day sitting around. Whether at work, travelling to work, relaxing watching TV, or eating a meal. It’s the polar opposite of what we used to do. 

All this inaction is having an effect on our bodies, suppressing processes and creating tension in muscles and skeletons. It is suggested that we stand up every 15-20 minutes. The act of standing up jump starts the system essentially.

From a Diverse Microbiome and Strong Immunity to Severe Health Issues and Depression 

We should have a hugely diverse microbiome with several hundred different species of bacteria. Majority of bacteria is harmless and like many things in our society, it’s the few viruses that get a lot of attention due to their negative effects. Because of this, modern society is full of anti-bacteria behaviour and products. Washing hands excessively, using sanitiser, living an indoor life with stale air and chemicals rather than being exposed to the outside and all the organisms that come with it. 

With a diverse microbiome, the body can fight off bad viruses with increased ease and keep the processes of the body moving and working smoothly. The other source of a healthy microbiome is a varied diet. The variety of fibre in the diet is crucial for our microbiome. Our standard diet of processed foods with lack of variety and vegetables along with increased chemical consumption, is causing a lot of problems for the health of humanity and other species.

From Social Connectedness to Global Isolation 

We are a social species. We need each other to survive and thrive. Not just for reproduction but connection, enhancing our experience and increasing brain connections. Sapiens in isolation do not do well. 

We used to live in small family tribes. It is said that a group could grow to around 150 individuals and then would need to break off into another group. This is the number of individuals we would know on a personal level enough to know some characteristics about the individual and live with them in close quarters as a tribe member. A group of 150 close people can resolve issues and work together due to their emotional connections and trust in the wisdom of the elders. Since we can’t really handle close relationships with more than approximately 150 people, groups bigger than this would need hierarchy structures and methods of mediation and societal rules as we are effectively dealing with strangers. 

Today we live in close quarters with thousands of people and in cities with millions of people. This change takes away that element of living in close quarters with people with emotional connections, the beginnings of isolation. With modern living, many of us live alone completely with our family and friends at a physical distance as we go off into our own lives. It makes us feel more connected being online with millions of other people, but it’s actually rather damaging, the lack of face to face contact with loved ones. The exposure to the opinions and actions of millions of strangers does nothing positive for our brains and bodies in the long run. 

Further Exploration 

I’ve explored here a handful of aspects of modern life that demonstrates the stark difference of what we are evolved for, and what we are now experiencing. We are malfunctioning on a global level. No wonder we have so many issues. 

What other stark differences can you think of that have affected your life and the lives of the people around you? This is a good area to study, what life was like before plastic, before the industrial revolution, before large empires, before cities and before agriculture. The timeline can be tracked back to 10,000 years ago to the dawn of agriculture. Before this, our ancestors were nomadic and hunter gatherers. This is the environment that we have evolved to live in. Studying this environment and behaviour habits can shine a bright light on the stark contrast of the world we live in today and reveal to you some potential ways in which you can change some of your habits to better suit your evolutionary design.