Civilization is a selfish construct Civilization is the idea that humans gain more as a group than as an individual. It is still true in many social settings. The process of getting civilized is you are trading part of individuality to get the acceptance of the group. When you do this long enough, the group becomes an echo chamber and your individuality is completely gone. At this point, being part of the group becomes more painful than being all by yourself. I think we will be better off in the near future if we take time to heal ourselves and find our roots. Realize being civilized and uncivilized is not good or bad in and of itself. It is simply a trade-off.