TEHRAN-The Persian translation of the book “Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress” written by Christopher Ryan has been released in the Iranian book market.

Hossein Amin Esmaeili has translated the book and Onvan Publications has brought it out, Honaronline reported.

Originally published in 2019, the book explores the ways in which “progress” has perverted the way we live: how we eat, learn, feel, parent, communicate, work, and die.

Most of us have instinctive evidence the world is ending—balmy December days, face-to-face conversation replaced with heads-to-screen zomboidism, a world at constant war, a political system in disarray. We hear some myths and lies so frequently that they feel like truths: “Civilization is humankind’s greatest accomplishment”. “Progress is undeniable”. “Count your blessings”. “You’re lucky to be alive here and now”. Well, maybe we are and maybe we aren’t. “Civilized to Death” counters the idea that progress is inherently good, arguing that the “progress” defining our age is analogous to an advancing disease.

Prehistoric life, of course, was not without serious dangers and disadvantages. Many babies died in infancy. A broken bone, infected wound, snakebite, or difficult pregnancy could be life-threatening. But ultimately, the author argues, were these pre-civilized dangers more murderous than modern scourges, such as car accidents, cancers, cardiovascular disease, and a technologically prolonged dying process? At a time when our ecology, our society, and our own sense of selves feels increasingly imperiled, an accurate understanding of our species’ long prelude to civilization is vital to a clear sense of the ultimate value of civilization—and its costs. In “Civilized to Death,” Christopher Ryan makes the claim that we should start looking backward to find our way into a better future.

Ryan paints a rose-tinted portrait of nomadic “foragers” who lead healthy, happy, peaceful lives in “an egalitarian world of shared plenitude”; value “generosity, honesty, and mutual respect”; work just 20 hours a week; and respect women. Unfortunately, with the arrival of agriculture and fixed abodes, the foragers’ “gods of ease and play, pleasure and laughter” succumb to civilization’s “god of toil, sacrifice, scarcity, and submission.” The results are disastrous: patriarchy, war, high-carb diets, cancer, environmental destruction, tooth decay, and overprotective parenting.

Christopher Ryan, 62, is an American author. He holds a Ph.D. in psychology. His work has been translated into over twenty languages.

SS/SAB