The Case Against Civilization
This is basically what the book Sapiens is about.<p>One thing that has constantly been on my mind since reading Sapiens is that no one has been able to definitively explain why men have dominated all of the positions of power in societies (up until a just a few years ago, at least). Civilizations that emerged completely independently from each other (whether in the fertile crescent, China, Mesoamerica or elsewhere), universally became patriarchies. Before the Neolithic era, and in some surviving hunter gatherer cultures today, matriarchy was not uncommon.<p>Women still tend to report being happier than men in survey data, and just going by the men and women I know, I think the men would prefer to abandon civilization before women. But I think if we want advance more women into positions of power in all tiers of society, then we need stop just trying to wrack it up to discrimination and sexism, stop trying to have the government regulate men and women&#x27;s paycheck, and actually try to figure out why women have universally faired worse in societies.<p>For example (this is just a theory, I have no evidence whatsoever here), the men who tend to advance politically and in their careers are usually the ones with the best social skills. They&#x27;re the ones who are the best at making advantageous alliances and forming strong relationships with those outside their family. Perhaps women are not as good at that? If that is the case, then it might be wise to try to encourage women to improve that subset of social skills. I may be way off here, but I think we need to start asking questions, coming up with theories, and testing those theories rather than settle on the one that&#x27;s easiest but doesn&#x27;t really get us anywhere.