interesting discussion
I am all for a bit of tranquility in my life! I lived in Oban for about a year and a half while I was on placement at uni, and used to have holidays in cabins at loch Awe every October until I was about 17 or so and I think I'm suited to that kind of place where you can find yourself some (ie several miles of) personal space very easily! I can't stand London, and even Glasgow (where I grew up and now live again) is too much of a city for me.
Don't get me wrong though, I wouldn't trade the benefits of the IR for a self-sufficient lifestyle - I like big shops, and going to the pub and having the TV for the dark, rainy winters
But then, I'm probably biased. Without antibiotics, I'd probably be deafened by the ear infections I had as a child, and without modern surgery \ drugs, I dread to think what my appendicitis\appendectomy would have been like. It was bad enough with all that! Alternative therapies may have a place, but as a scientist myself, I personally need to see proper evidence that they work before I'd put my trust in it (and remember, the flipside to the placebo effect is the nocebo effect, which may be just as damaging as the placebo is beneficial...)
Also, how much would really change? Free time would be a privilidge of the elite, moneyed, or upper-classes and the rest of us would still be working, only we'd have to work harder because we wouldn't have the time-saving devices we have now, and you'd be even harder pressed to find five minutes peace. I hear what you are saying, but I think finding your own peace and tranquility is something people have to do for themselves. Wishing we were not industrialised or that everyone was self-sufficient would probably stress out more people in the population than it would calm down!
Anyway, enough rambling from me- I hope there's at least a little sense in there