Natural Humanity
My head is permenantly screwed up.
Recently I listened to Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality Unlike other self-help or editoral books on the subject, this one focuses on the science first and foremost. And while it is indeed full of sex, it is even more eye-opening and informative, possibly more so, in its description of prehistoric life of humans (and the science to support it).
What has struck me was how much sense it made that problems of civilizations are deviations from humanity's natural way of living - as immediate return (short storage) hunter-gatherers.
All of the claims are supported by strong evidence in the book but I won't list all of it here.
Essentially, for 95% of human's existence, people
- Held no posessions besides those of only sentimental value
- Foraged for food, which they kept for short spans of time, no farming or domestication
- Had plentiful food supply thanks to an omnivorous diet and low population density
- Foraging was not time consuming, especially compared with farming
- The variety of food is astronomically higher than what is available to agricultural societies
- Food was freely given and shared between people
- Enjoyed long and healthy lives
- Some areas of the world are trying to get back the lifespan and height they had before agriculture
- Although infant mortality was high, especially conscious infanticide, lower average age numbers
- Infanticide kept a group's numbers within a supportable range
- and growth in population would not become important until agriculture and the need for farmhands and inheritable posessions
- Infectious diseases would be difficult to spread because groups lived far apart
- One theory says low level of intestinal worms are expected by the body and lack of them lets it become allergic to harmless things
- Low stress levels
- Human cleverness and altruism means of any animal, we are the best at caring for each other's wounds
- Lived in groups of up to 150 people (Dunbar's number) with freedom to leave or go
- Were part of a small total population of humans, meaning vast resources for everyone
- Had sexual activity with each other, straight and same-sex and both, frequently, often in groups or in close successive acts
- Sex would have most often been between people who were deeply involved in each other's lives for a long time, relied upon, and cared for
- Think bonobos, where sex solves problems
- Had no marriage in the traditional sense, which is based upon the idea of property and ownership which was a creation of agriculture and wealth
- Cared for infants and children as a group, for the good of the group
- with mothers nursing other children
- fathers not knowing and not caring about paternity, equally raising all the children
- Did not worry much about fear of violence from other humans
- evidence of human-on-human violence in paleolithic remains is rare
- High sexual activity is inversely correlated with amounts of violence, that is, more sex = less violence... less sex = more violence
- Adverse behavior was kept in check by communal shaming, which is possible to do only in close groups
- The worst punishment was exile
- Sleep when and how much you want
- Little work meant naps all the time who cares
- Cannot hold position over anyone else, because individuals can always leave
- Equality, sharing, openness, kindness
NOTE: There are very few true immediate-return foraging humans left. Most 'primitive' groups have agriculture, storage, or are not nomadic. They also do not have the open vast areas of resources, and of course interact with modern societies.
10,000 or so years ago EVERYTHING CHANGED and we got agriculture. Suddenly humans were staying in one place which neccesitated growing food, which created war (over possessions) and wedlock (and polygamy).
So now I see tons of problems in society that would not have been a problem in our natural way of living.
- Corporate CEO got away with fucking over thousands of people? Wouldn't have happened if we lived in small groups and could shame people in to good behavior
- Can't get sexually satisfied? Wouldn't be a problem, you'd have had plenty of time and people ready and willing
- Problem of violence and reckless behavior? More sex chills everyone out
- Are you afraid of your neighbors? It'd be impossible if you knew and also relied on everyone (which is possible when you don't know that many)
(Seriously how crazy is it that I can live in a building so close to people and not know them and be terrified of them!!)
- Exhausted from caring for a new born child? Wouldn't be a problem to hand her over to any of the other nursing mothers and caring adults you have 24/7, not just on special occasions, and not just your parents or whatever,
- Tired that you have to work so hard at a job? Wouldn't be a problem when you don't have jobs beyond finding food, so you'd have free time to do whatever you want
- Autism, ADD, and other mental differences? Useful and adaptable in the wild, or able to live out how they wish easily, or cared for by the group.
The only down sides I can see:
- Critical illness or wound you couldn't cure well
- Could be eaten by bears and such
- boredom maybe?
So there's this image in my head of these peaceful healthy folks, chowing down on local delicassies (bugs, fruit, whatever), enjoying pristine landscapes, playing with whatever adorable kids come around, sleeping, having some love time with loved ones (and some more and some more), sleeping, joking and laughing and singing, sleeping, cuddling by a fire. No stress. No fear. That's how it's supposed to be.
All I can think of is how far off base we have become, and how intensely that's impacting mine and everyone's life terribly. The intense stress, fear for the future, loneliness, fear of fellow man (I mean really how bad is that), cruelty to incredible degree done to people by people, quality of life decreasing from lack of basic pleasures of food, sex, health, freedom.
I can't get over it. It pisses me off and crushes me to think about.
If you need something to blame, one theory is that groups started staying in one place to grow and brew beer....
"We were born to fart around. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise" - Mark Vonnegut
Recently I listened to Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality Unlike other self-help or editoral books on the subject, this one focuses on the science first and foremost. And while it is indeed full of sex, it is even more eye-opening and informative, possibly more so, in its description of prehistoric life of humans (and the science to support it).
What has struck me was how much sense it made that problems of civilizations are deviations from humanity's natural way of living - as immediate return (short storage) hunter-gatherers.
All of the claims are supported by strong evidence in the book but I won't list all of it here.
Essentially, for 95% of human's existence, people
- Held no posessions besides those of only sentimental value
- Foraged for food, which they kept for short spans of time, no farming or domestication
- Had plentiful food supply thanks to an omnivorous diet and low population density
- Foraging was not time consuming, especially compared with farming
- The variety of food is astronomically higher than what is available to agricultural societies
- Food was freely given and shared between people
- Enjoyed long and healthy lives
- Some areas of the world are trying to get back the lifespan and height they had before agriculture
- Although infant mortality was high, especially conscious infanticide, lower average age numbers
- Infanticide kept a group's numbers within a supportable range
- and growth in population would not become important until agriculture and the need for farmhands and inheritable posessions
- Infectious diseases would be difficult to spread because groups lived far apart
- One theory says low level of intestinal worms are expected by the body and lack of them lets it become allergic to harmless things
- Low stress levels
- Human cleverness and altruism means of any animal, we are the best at caring for each other's wounds
- Lived in groups of up to 150 people (Dunbar's number) with freedom to leave or go
- Were part of a small total population of humans, meaning vast resources for everyone
- Had sexual activity with each other, straight and same-sex and both, frequently, often in groups or in close successive acts
- Sex would have most often been between people who were deeply involved in each other's lives for a long time, relied upon, and cared for
- Think bonobos, where sex solves problems
- Had no marriage in the traditional sense, which is based upon the idea of property and ownership which was a creation of agriculture and wealth
- Cared for infants and children as a group, for the good of the group
- with mothers nursing other children
- fathers not knowing and not caring about paternity, equally raising all the children
- Did not worry much about fear of violence from other humans
- evidence of human-on-human violence in paleolithic remains is rare
- High sexual activity is inversely correlated with amounts of violence, that is, more sex = less violence... less sex = more violence
- Adverse behavior was kept in check by communal shaming, which is possible to do only in close groups
- The worst punishment was exile
- Sleep when and how much you want
- Little work meant naps all the time who cares
- Cannot hold position over anyone else, because individuals can always leave
- Equality, sharing, openness, kindness
NOTE: There are very few true immediate-return foraging humans left. Most 'primitive' groups have agriculture, storage, or are not nomadic. They also do not have the open vast areas of resources, and of course interact with modern societies.
10,000 or so years ago EVERYTHING CHANGED and we got agriculture. Suddenly humans were staying in one place which neccesitated growing food, which created war (over possessions) and wedlock (and polygamy).
So now I see tons of problems in society that would not have been a problem in our natural way of living.
- Corporate CEO got away with fucking over thousands of people? Wouldn't have happened if we lived in small groups and could shame people in to good behavior
- Can't get sexually satisfied? Wouldn't be a problem, you'd have had plenty of time and people ready and willing
- Problem of violence and reckless behavior? More sex chills everyone out
- Are you afraid of your neighbors? It'd be impossible if you knew and also relied on everyone (which is possible when you don't know that many)
(Seriously how crazy is it that I can live in a building so close to people and not know them and be terrified of them!!)
- Exhausted from caring for a new born child? Wouldn't be a problem to hand her over to any of the other nursing mothers and caring adults you have 24/7, not just on special occasions, and not just your parents or whatever,
- Tired that you have to work so hard at a job? Wouldn't be a problem when you don't have jobs beyond finding food, so you'd have free time to do whatever you want
- Autism, ADD, and other mental differences? Useful and adaptable in the wild, or able to live out how they wish easily, or cared for by the group.
The only down sides I can see:
- Critical illness or wound you couldn't cure well
- Could be eaten by bears and such
- boredom maybe?
So there's this image in my head of these peaceful healthy folks, chowing down on local delicassies (bugs, fruit, whatever), enjoying pristine landscapes, playing with whatever adorable kids come around, sleeping, having some love time with loved ones (and some more and some more), sleeping, joking and laughing and singing, sleeping, cuddling by a fire. No stress. No fear. That's how it's supposed to be.
All I can think of is how far off base we have become, and how intensely that's impacting mine and everyone's life terribly. The intense stress, fear for the future, loneliness, fear of fellow man (I mean really how bad is that), cruelty to incredible degree done to people by people, quality of life decreasing from lack of basic pleasures of food, sex, health, freedom.
I can't get over it. It pisses me off and crushes me to think about.
If you need something to blame, one theory is that groups started staying in one place to grow and brew beer....
"We were born to fart around. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise" - Mark Vonnegut