Quote Originally Posted by FoxyBunny View Post
Not to drag this too far off-topic, but human beings are actually quite frail creatures. We are far from being the ones with the most endurance, no matter how you qualify that. Humans are very environment-dependent. In our natural form, we cannot tolerate extremes of climate/temperature, or go for any length of time without air/water/food/sleep, or defend ourselves against predators, or find food, etc. We are absolutely tied to having everything we need being easily accessible. What helps us to overcome this are the tools we've created. We make clothing and shelter to defend against the climate, because human skin and hair are pathetically unmatched for anything except tropical and the mildest of temperate zones. We create containers to take water with us because in some environments we cannot go for more than about a day without it. We create tools to hunt with because humans aren't fast enough to catch anything small and not strong enough to catch the slow things, in general.
I think in some cases, our modern frailty is due to our dependence on technology. Several hundred/thousand years ago, mankind did have to work for everything. They didn't have everything available through a click of a button or quick ride to the local store.

As mankind has become more and more dependent on convenient technology, I think we've degenerated to some degree. As a few examples, living in perfectly conditioned houses over several years would weaken our ability to adapt to varying temperatures. Being pampered by modern medicine would weaken our immune system. Having food and other necessities waiting for us on hand and foot would weaken our ability to hunt/gather said necessities in the wild. Because such abilities are no longer needed, they would atrophy over the generations.

3000 years ago, if you would have dropped Uncle Og-og randomly in a providing wilderness, I bet you he probably could have survived without much trouble. Nowadays, yes, Uncle Rich would likely die within a short time. I think because we've grown so dependent on modern technology doing everything for us, we've weakened ourselves as a species to a point that we can't easily survive without it.