Life as a Hunter-Gatherer: Nice or Nasty?

[Johnny Canuck3]

Actually, my estimation of phil, never that low, is going up thanks to this thread.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Nova says this, but who really knows?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/israel/losttribes.html

 

[phildwyer]

Actually, my estimation of phil, never that low, is going up thanks to this thread.

Ah Johnny, there's not many of us left mate. We are adrift on a sea of humorless ninnies and raging nutters. I don't suppose I could interest you in a debate about whether Edward Said was, in reality, Abe Cohen, the son of a deli-owner from Brooklyn?

 

[Rich Lyon]

Only a person who has never had toothache (or piles) could ask such a naïve question.

 

[andrewwyld]

Well? Sounds a lot nicer than the world that has been created by "science" to me...

I've certainly seen it suggested that people in "hunting" societies can be very happy, but there doesn't seem to me any evidence that "hunting" is what actually causes it, or "science" what destroys it. Perhaps seeing "primitive" societies as "opposite" is the "problem".

 

[andrewwyld]

So, no fire, clothes, beds, constructed shelter or hunting tools then?

Or keyboards. Fortunately I am programming this into my PDP-11 using the panel switches. Give me old tech every time!

 

[kyser_soze]

You'd all be back to the modern world in a trice were you suffering from a treatable illness or a cardiac arrest or compound fractured limb.

 

[andrewwyld]

You'd all be back to the modern world in a trice were you suffering from a treatable illness or a cardiac arrest or compound fractured limb.

Especially if you had a heart attack at the top of a ladder, and fell on to some rocks covered in infected blood.

It could happen.

 

[kyser_soze]

Especially if you had a heart attack at the top of a ladder, and fell on to some rocks covered in infected blood.

It could happen.

You could be gored badly by a critter and bleed to death.

And just think - a broken limb at the wrong time of year...or when you get old...your little tribe desert you cos you're a liabilty rather than an asset...

Yup, happy fun times every day living like that.

I'm happy with my PS2 and all the trappings of science thankyewverymuch

 

[Bernie Gunther]

~200 hectares per human of decent land required to keep a hunter-gather in reasonable style. ~0.25 ha of such land available per human currently alive.

Not really an option is it?

 

[andrewwyld]

And just think - a broken limb at the wrong time of year...or when you get old...your little tribe desert you cos you're a liabilty rather than an asset...

Actually, they found a really ancient skeleton recently which displayed signs of hypervitaminosis. Hypervitaminosis makes you die very slowly. The skeleton displayed an advanced form, suggesting it had been cared for -- in other words, suggesting caring behaviour in primates long before we had expected it.

I guess it's a question of whether you would rather have a doctor who cures you but ignores you, or one who holds your hand while you die?

(A doctor who ignored you whiled you died would obviously be very crappy.)

 

[kyser_soze]

Actually, they found a really ancient skeleton recently which displayed signs of hypervitaminosis. Hypervitaminosis makes you die very slowly. The skeleton displayed an advanced form, suggesting it had been cared for -- in other words, suggesting caring behaviour in primates long before we had expected it.

I guess it's a question of whether you would rather have a doctor who cures you but ignores you, or one who holds your hand while you die?

(A doctor who ignored you whiled you died would obviously be very crappy.)

Prefer one that cured me - couldn't give a toss whether they hang around, that's what family and friends are for...

 

[nino_savatte]

Phil, stop being a cunt.

He can't help himself...it's in his nature.

 

[ViolentPanda]

You are correct: Central America is to be distinguished from North and South America. North and South America are therefore not "joined together" as Monsieur Canuck wrongly states. There are three Americas, but only one continent. Both all three Americas and the one continent are referred to by the term "America." Arrogant North Americans often forget that Central America exists, and that people there refer to their homeland as "America." Doesn't make it true, though. Also, Leonard Bernstein was a Jew from New York, *not* a Puerto Rican, as M. Canuck wrongly stated.

Point of order: Leonard Bernstein was a Jew from Lawrence, Massachusetts, not from New York as Mr. Dwyer wrongly stated.

What was that you said earlier about checking simple facts on google, phil?

 

[phildwyer]

Point of order: Leonard Bernstein was a Jew from Lawrence, Massachusetts, not from New York as Mr. Dwyer wrongly stated.

Rubbish. He was a Puerto Rican from San Juan. His real name was Hector Hernandez. Due to the widespread discrimination against Puerto Ricans in the entertainment industry, he invented a semitic persona in order to blend in. However, he cleverly signalled his true identity through subtly coded hidden messages, such as writing musicals all about Puerto Ricans. Later on, some Puerto Ricans got their revenge by writing "Fiddler on the Roof."

 

[nino_savatte]

Troll.

 

[kyser_soze]

This thread needs to be hunted and gathered...

 

[ViolentPanda]

Rubbish. He was a Puerto Rican from San Juan. His real name was Hector Hernandez. Due to the widespread discrimination against Puerto Ricans in the entertainment industry, he invented a semitic persona in order to blend in. However, he cleverly signalled his true identity through subtly coded hidden messages, such as writing musicals all about Puerto Ricans. Later on, some Puerto Ricans got their revenge by writing "Fiddler on the Roof."

You haven't got laid recently, have you?

Not surprising though, you have the character of the sort of prson who, if they were a waiter, would spit in a blind man's meal. Most women and men don't find that attractive.