That was the default at one point in human history. If you didn’t hunt or forage, you probably didn’t get to eat. Eventually humans discovered agriculture and figured out a small group of people could produce enough food for a large group of people. You’d assume that would then mean not everyone would need to labour for their food, but you’d be wrong!
How do babys survive? They can not hunt nor forage. Even more so we have remains of a person with Down sydrom who died in his mid 20s having been unable to walk on two legs for at least a decade before he died. So clearly unable to surive on his own. Also hunter gathers ususally work 15 hours a week. At least modern ones do that. Agriculture is able to provide food for more people, but tends to do so with a lot more work until relativly recently
The Problem with things, like the 15 hour per week claim, is that work isn’t comparable in different forms of society.
The article for example never specified, what it defines as work. Is only the time spent hunting or foraging ‘work’ ?
Is making & maintaining tools work? Is learning a new skill from an elder work? Is experimenting with a new technique work? Is keeping the campfire alive work? Is keeping watch for dangerous animals work? All of which are work in today’s society. Hell, over half of my work week is spent ‘socialising’. Do I only work for 20 hours a week now?
Every article or study, that I know of, that claims that people in the past worked significantly less, fails to specify what it defines as work.
