Mismatched in our world

Humans can be distinguished from all other species in the way in which they continually,and often intentionally,modify their environments,both physical and socially.for much of our history we employed our unique capacities of thinking,communication,planning,and use of technology in rather limited ways to expand the range of environments we could inhabit.when we stopped living as nomads we started using technology to intensify our population density in specific and static environments.the race of change has accelerated as technological developments have progressed.

Throughout our history as a species we have striven,by the use of our intelligence ,our ingenuity,and by sides hard work,to improve the conditions,under which we live.it is better to be warm than cold;better to be replete than hungry;better to live for another year than to die today of disease;better stroll to the refrigerator to prepare a sandwich than to walk for miles to collect a few meagre nuts and berries.life really is so much better than it was,at least in developed societies,and only the most cynical person would deny it.we have improved the lot of human condition for ourselves,our families and friends,and even for the particular society in which we live(our tribe if you like)beyond all recognition since we migrated out of africa.

And so we have come to design sophisticated ways of growing and distributing food,and of manufacturing the foods we seem to like best.ye have applied technology to reduce the amount of physical work most of us expend every day.ye have developed a measures to prevent disease,and to treat it if it occurs.we have promoted social structures to sustain the lives of more frail members of a population.we have explored ways to allow everyone to reproduce he they wish.most of up now live for longer in a cleaner,safer world,and we have the leisure to enjoy it.but the impact of humans on the environment is increasingly apparent-as polynesian islands disappear under a rising sea,as polar ice caps melt and glaciers retreat,we can truly reflect on how we have changed our environment.

Every 'improvement' we made by the use of technology has only further changed the environment to which we had to adapt.we changed our nutritional environment,our disease environment,our social environment,our society environment;we lived longer.as the degree and pace of change increase,so the question has to be asked-what limit in our biology might be exceeded by the environments we are creating and what are consequences?this question comes into sharp focus because two aspects of our biology have not changed.they are the two histories each of us carries with us,from our evolutionary past and our individual developmental part.

If we had not tried to be matched,we would not have survived to this day as a species.but now we have changed that environment ourselves-changed many crucial aspects of it,and changed them very fast.the health and social problems which the karuni people faced when irrigation was introduced into their more traditional farming practices might be faced when irrigation was introduced into their more traditional farming practices might be faced by many of up around the world,in different but on less important ways.could it be that in trying to make things better ,we become increasingly mismatched to our environment?