Happiness and the Power of Being All-In in a World of Endless Options

The Relationship Between Commitment and Peace

For most of the past 200,000 years, human beings have lived in nomadic hunter-gatherer families and tribes not larger than 100 people. It was only 10,000 years ago, with the emergence of agriculture, that human beings began to establish permanent domiciles and foster larger communities around fertile land.

This transition was accelerated by the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries when demand for jobs on factory room floors fanned the flames of urbanization. Having people concentrated in small areas helped to stimulate economic activity in the area, and with it, the emergence of the high-rise cities and apartment-block living.

Over the past two hundred years, the percentage of Americans living in urban areas rose from less than 10% to more than 80% — a trendline echoed in most developed nations.

Over a relatively short period of time, we went from interacting with no more than 100 people over the course of our lives to tens of thousands of people.