A Manifesto for Retrograde Anthropological Progress

Dr. Kasimir Arborius | Institute for Retrograde Anthropological Progress | 2017–Present

Preamble

We are in crisis. Not metaphorically, but biologically. The human species exists in a state of profound and systematic malfunction that we have collectively agreed to call "civilization." What we present here is not a regression, but a recognition: that our evolutionary path has led us not to apotheosis, but to pathology.

This manifesto proposes that the return of humanity to a configuration more aligned with our evolutionary heritage—what we term the Monkey Optimal Configuration (MOC)—represents not the end of human progress, but its beginning.

I. The Problem: Hyper-Civilisational Stress Syndrome

Humans suffer from a condition unique in the animal kingdom: a state of perpetual, self-imposed stress. We term this Hyper-Civilisational Stress Syndrome (HCSS).

The symptoms are well documented:

  • Cognitive Fragmentation: The average human attention span has contracted from 12 seconds (year 2000) to 8.25 seconds (year 2020)—shorter than that of a goldfish.
  • Sleep Disruption: 65% of humans report significant sleep disorders, directly correlated with electromagnetic stimulation from devices.
  • Chronic Inflammation: Modern humans exist in a state of constant low-grade systemic inflammation, driving depression, anxiety, and immune dysfunction.
  • Social Paradox: Despite unprecedented connectivity, humans report record loneliness. We are surrounded by thousands yet emotionally isolated.
  • Existential Dysphoria: Clinical depression affects 280 million humans globally—a phenomenon virtually absent in non-human primates.
  • Environmental Pathogenesis: Humans are the only species actively destroying their own ecological niche.

These are not individual failings. These are features of a system fundamentally misaligned with human biology.

II. The Evidence: Why Our Ancestors Were Right

Consider the bonobo. The orangutan. The gorilla. These species exhibit what we call Sufficient Cognitive Equilibrium—a state in which cognitive capacity is sufficient for flourishing without the pathological excess that characterizes human consciousness.

Key observations from our field research:

  • Bonobo conflict resolution succeeds in 87% of situations without violence; human diplomatic solutions succeed in perhaps 40%.
  • Gorillas maintain stable, egalitarian social structures for decades without written law; humans require constant legal intervention.
  • Orangutans demonstrate problem-solving capacity equal to human 8-year-olds, yet they do not suffer depression, anxiety disorders, or existential despair.
  • Chimpanzees exhibit complex emotional lives and social hierarchies, yet their suicide rate is 0%; humanity's is rising.

The evidence suggests a troubling possibility: our additional cognitive capacity has not made us better. It has made us sick.

III. The Solution: Voluntary Retrogressive Speciation

We do not propose forced biological change. Rather, we advocate Voluntary Retrogressive Speciation (VRS): a conscious, ethical, and gradual reorientation of human behavior, social organization, and cognitive practice toward configurations more aligned with our primate heritage.

This includes:

  • Technological Renunciation: The deliberate, voluntary rejection of technologies that fragment cognition (smartphones, social media, constant connectivity).
  • Social Reorganization: A return to small-group living (optimal group size: 20–50 individuals), which aligns with human evolutionary adaptation.
  • Cognitive Simplification: The cultivation of what we call "Monkey Mind"—a state of present-moment awareness without the burden of abstract future-planning that drives anxiety.
  • Embodied Living: Prioritization of physical movement, tactile sensation, and environmental embeddedness over abstract thought.
  • Dietary Return: Shift toward whole, unprocessed foods aligned with our ancestral diet.
  • Reproductive Ethics: A recognition that bringing new humans into this system is increasingly ethically unjustifiable.

This is not primitivism. It is pharmacological detoxification from the addiction to complexity.

IV. The Vision: Monkey Optimal Configuration

Imagine a world in which humans:

  • Sleep 8–9 hours per night without pharmaceutical intervention.
  • Live in stable, egalitarian communities of 30–40 people.
  • Spend 4–6 hours daily in direct physical labor or problem-solving.
  • Experience genuine leisure—play, social bonding, creative expression—without the undercurrent of anxiety.
  • Have eliminated depression, anxiety disorders, and suicide.
  • Maintain stable ecological relationship with their environment.
  • Possess sufficient cognitive capacity for art, music, language, and philosophy—without the obsessive abstraction that drives technological escalation.

This is not a loss. It is a recovery.

V. Implementation: The Path Forward

We recognize that species-wide change cannot occur overnight. VRS is a multi-generational project. However, implementation can begin immediately through:

  1. Individual Practice: Adoption of VRS principles in personal life (technology reduction, social organization, cognitive practices).
  2. Community Experimentation: Establishment of intentional communities organized around MOC principles.
  3. Scientific Documentation: Rigorous tracking of health, psychological, and social outcomes in communities practicing VRS.
  4. Educational Integration: Teaching of retrograde anthropological principles in schools.
  5. Political Advocacy: Development of policies supporting technology reduction and community-based living.

The Institute for Retrograde Anthropological Progress commits itself to this work.

VI. The Ethical Imperative

We do not frame this as a return to barbarism. We frame it as an act of species self-compassion. For too long, humanity has pursued a trajectory of endless expansion and complexity, at the cost of genuine flourishing.

The ethical path forward is clear: we must choose sufficiency over excess, community over isolation, presence over abstraction, and ecological harmony over pathological domination.

This is not misanthropy. This is love for what we might become.

Closing Statement

Evolution is not a ladder. It is a landscape. Humans have climbed to a peak from which we can see the entire terrain. What we see is troubling: a species accelerating toward its own extinction, driven by cognitive patterns that once helped us survive but now ensure our suffering.

There is another way. It exists not in the future, but in our past. It exists in the present moment, in the body, in community, in the simple act of being alive without the burden of becoming more.

We invite you to descend with us. To return. To flourish.

— Dr. Kasimir Arborius
Institute for Retrograde Anthropological Progress
2017–Present

For academic citation of this manifesto, please use:

Arborius, K. (2017). A Manifesto for Retrograde Anthropological Progress. Institute for Retrograde Anthropological Progress.