This doesn't really belong here, but in the absence of an anthropology/archaeology forum, I suppose this is the best place.

Agriculture. Is it a good, or a bad thing? Obviously, it is too late to go back now. but are we better off for having begun to produce our food? Hopefully I will be able to offer greater insight into my position on this topic after the course on the origins of food production which I am taking next semester, but that is an archaeology course, so I think that it will focus mostly on the actual evidence for food production, possible reasons why people started to produce, etc. and not so much on the societal and biological impacts of food production. Nevertheless, it is an anthropology course, so I'm sure that stuff will be discussed at least a little. But even without that course, I know enough to make a decent argument. But right now I am procrastinating, and want to hear the views of others first, anyway, so for now I will just let you debate, and sometime in the upcoming week will begin to, hopefully (i.e. if I don't lose interest), offer my own arguments and opinions.

And note that while this applies to today, too, I talk about the origins of food porduction, and the conditions during those times. Modern machinery and public health systems have replaced many of these concerns, but their effects are still felt. Still, many of these are of major concern in many parts of the world.

I shall start you off with a very brief and incomplete pros and cons list:

Pros:

- Has allowed increased population.
- The cities and settlements we have now would not be possible without it.
- Life as we know it would be very different.

Cons:

- Has allowed increased population.
- Allowed for the massive cities and settlements that we have now, which have a negative impact on the environment.
- Increased sedentism also led to extremely hierarchical and exploitative societies, which are still with us.
- Increased sedentism and population growth led to increased conflict.
- Has had a negative impact on human health:
- Sedentism breeds disease. If a settlement is on a diseased area, the population doesn't ever leave that area, so the disease spreads. Also, livestock can be very dirty, can cause/spread disease. Storage of grain also attracks pests which can carry disease. And living for a long time near personal waste also breeds disease.
- Agricultural diets not as healty as hunter-gatherer ones (by some arguments).
- Agriculture allows for differential access to resources, which means that some people may not eat properly (bad foods, or very little food). These people also likely worked the hardest (in the fields, as slaves, etc.), and need more calories than people who don't work so hard, but can't get them).
- Agriculture is more labour-intensive (it takes more work to get the same amount of food than in a hunter-gatherer society. This is another intensely debated topic, however).
- Agriculture has a negative impact on the environment.

I'm sure that you can see where I sway. But I haven't elaborated on my pros section, at all, and both of these sections are quite incomplete. Maybe I will make this a topic of interest for a research paper. Or a thesis! I really am quite interested in it. Hmm...I may have found my Ph.D. dissertation thesis...

Anyway, discuss!