History teaches us so much, and it is so accessible to everyone that only those who refuse to look are left blind — almost certainly a deliberate blindness, but undoubtedly a guilty one.

This reflection leads me to share how our way of life has transformed so profoundly that it is necessary to look back to understand the result of this transformation.

First fact: “Around 3.7 million years ago, the first hominid creatures appeared, walking on two feet” — a fact that might seem insignificant today.

Yet, the problems that plague us now — cardiovascular diseases, obesity, muscle and bone issues, mental health disorders, diabetes — all lead to increased premature mortality and a significant strain on resources due to medical care costs and lost productivity. These are the results, but not the root of the problem. The true scourge we face is sedentary living.

Second fact: “It is accepted that the design of the human body (encoded in its genes) is the result of millions of years of biological evolution.”

Looking at our current reality and tracing it back, we see that the evolutionary process has, for most of its timeline, shaped us into a complete and integrated human being through a nomadic lifestyle — one that forced us to develop and adapt to our environment.

From a historical perspective, Homo sapiens emerged around 300,000 years ago, and a crucial cognitive revolution took place 70,000 years ago. It was only 10,000 years ago that several human groups discovered ways to produce food, pushing them to settle in fixed locations and abandon their nomadic way of life.

Third fact: “This timeline shows that humans spent 290,000 years wandering throughout their evolutionary history, while the shift to a sedentary lifestyle happened just 10,000 years ago, when they became farmers.”

Conclusion: The evolution and improvement of human beings have always stemmed from our ability to adapt to our environment — an adaptation now shaped by our knowledge and technological development.

Our way of life has become one of the greatest threats to our own existence.

The transformation from a sedentary lifestyle to one adapted to a cutting-edge technological environment is the main challenge facing human evolution today.