Yuval Noah Harari in his book *Sapiens* argues that the Agricultural Revolution was actually a "trap."
Instead of us taming the grass, the grass manipulated us into serving its needs.
Human bodies evolved for hunting and gathering, not for the back-breaking labor of rice farming. The transition to agriculture led to a surge in physical ailments like slipped discs, arthritis, and hernias because humans spent all day weeding, clearing fields, and carrying water.
To grow it successfully, humans had to abandon nomadic lives and form settled, densely populated villages. This led to the first urban centers, complex social hierarchies, and centralized governments to manage massive irrigation systems.
While hunter-gatherers had a varied and nutritious diet, early rice farmers often became dependent on a single staple crop, which led to a narrower, less healthy diet and the rise of epidemics in crowded settlements.
Humans have spent millennia "serving" rice by leveling mountains into terraced paddies and building complex hydraulic systems (canals and sluices) purely to keep the plant happy and hydrated.
English
