Before, prior to. There is no difference between these two except length and a certain affectedness on the part of 'prior to.' To paraphrase Bernstein, if you would use 'posterior to' instead of 'after,' then by all means use 'prior to' instead of 'before.

We used to build civilizations. Now we build shopping malls.

It is not as if farming brought a great improvement in living standards either. A typical hunter-gatherer enjoyed a more varied diet and consumed more protein and calories than settled people, and took in five times as much viatmin C as the average person today.

Des Moines is like your typical American city; it's just these concentric circles of malls, built outward from the city.

I mused for a few moments on the question of which was worse, to lead a life so boring that you are easily enchanted, or a life so full of stimulus that you are easily bored.

99.99 percent of all species that have ever lived are no longer with us.

You don't need a science degree to understand about science. You just need to think about it.