Are clothes the root of all evil?

How would today be different if humans rejected clothing and nudism prevailed?

Let's start by turning to Biblical scripture for help in answering the question. In Genesis, Adam and Eve ate an apple, i.e. fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, despite it being forbidden. (Blame the serpent.) Upon doing so, they felt shame at their nakedness, and covered themselves. In fact, that is how God immediately knew that Adam and Eve had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge.

naked = without wisdom gained from eating of Tree of Knowledge 




clothed = with wisdom gained from eating of Tree of Knowledge




evil = serpent

Adam and Eve each hold a golden apple.

Elisha of Ascoli's Ketubah: Mantua, Italy on 31 August 1629

Since this was a decoration for the upper right corner of a ketubah (a marriage certificate used mostly by Sephardic Jews from about 1400 to the 1950s), the Hebrew inscription (happily!) doesn't directly correspond with the image. 

This is how it is pleasantly described by the online source, The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art at the Center for Jewish Art, Image ID 10661

A roundel, located in the top right corner of the outer border, features the naked Adam and Eve each with an outstretched hand, holding a golden apple. The Tree of Knowledge with golden fruits and the serpent coiled around its trunk stands on the left. A Hebrew inscription encircles the scene: יבורכו חתן וכלה כברך ה' אדם וחוה, "May the groom and bride be blessed as the lord blessed Adam and Eve".

Putting it all together, being unclothed is ignorant. Wearing clothing is wise, despite being associated with disobeying the command of God. Forces of evil were the impetus for mankind to go to a clothed state. Clothing was not the root of evil, but merely a manifestation of knowledge, thus clothes are not the root of all evil.

For another perspective, refer to James Beck's answer to Are clothes the root of all evil? specifically the last sentence:

Our remote ancestors did not wear clothes, but with the advent of civilization, they turned into us [we who are clothed].

To discard clothing is to regress to a less enlightened, more primitive state. Genesis further confirms that, as humans were unclothed prior to eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. If humans rejected clothing and nudism prevailed, we would be regressing to a more primitive state. 

We would also be hairier, everywhere, for warmth and protection. Being hairier isn't evil, and even regressing isn't necessarily evil, but I don't think either are unqualifiedly good! 

Digression

This is the image I used in my original Quora answer, from a 2015 blog post by Emin Gün Sirer on Hacking, Distributed when he was still a professor of computer science at Cornell University, How To Spot Satoshi. 

Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1510

Gün used it as an illustration for the following section about Bitcoin, "Creation Myths":

And every cult and culture needs and deserves a creation myth. Often, the myth itself is kind of blasé: defiant man and woman listen to serpent and steal an apple, wolf leads tribe out of a mountain pass, the sky sleeps with the earth and creates cyclops, giant slays giant and sets the world up for an enormous, no-holds-barred MMA match at the end of the universe, you get the idea. Most of these stories make no sense, and none of them actually matter.

What matters is Satoshi's actual legacy. Our banking infrastructure is archaic, having been left fallow since the Y2K rewrite... I'm not going to claim that a virtual currency like Bitcoin is the ultimate solution, or even a contender for a credible solution at the moment... Responsible media needs to drop the pointless Satoshi manhunt and focus on the technology and its implications. That's where the real action is.

As for the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, I had this to say at the time (2015) as a comment on that post: 

I still think it is Nick Szabo. He has the background, the history, and the peculiar combination of education that someone who wanted to create bitcoin and do so correctly, would. A recent possible Satoshi contender I have noticed is Tristan Henderson, assistant (or perhaps full) professor of computer science, and attorney at law. He may be too young, however, to fit in the timeline in the way Szabo and his Extropians (Wei Dai, Hal Finney and even the notoriously annoying Larry Detwiler of tentacle accusing infamy...

I feel more certain than ever that Satoshi is Nick Szabo. 

Gün definitely made a better image choice, from an art historical perspective; his Adam and Eve painting is by Lucas Cranach the Elder. I don't like the feet though!

Clothes are not the root of all evil

Knowledge is the reason for wearing clothes. I don't believe that knowledge is evil, nor do I believe that ignorance is bliss.

For those who dismiss the Biblical reference as an origin myth, note the caption on Emin Gün Sirer's original illustration:

What matters is what they did afterwards.