4 ms·

If you wish to go full fairy tale, you must always remember to include the they-had-no-word-for-war meme.

labster 9y ago
I don't wish to go full fairy tale, which is why I only mentioned facts. One of my exes did a PhD thesis on California Native Americans during the mission period. The Spanish introduced the locals to the concept of corporal punishment, which afawct was alien to them. None of this is to say that they were without technology, because science and technology are definitively human traits. Boat tech was pretty decent for the Chumash, and they traded inland to the desert tribes. But there's an attitude that civilization must be superior here among lots of commenters here, with an obvious ignorance of what uncivilized life was actually like. We have traded away free time, clean environments, and live with family; for medicine, safety, and iPhones. We have also traded infant mortality, exile, and ignorance; for anomie, prisons, pollution, and tyrants.
- WalterBright 9y ago
  Slavery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_among_the_indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_among_the_indigenous_p... You're right that primitive societies did not have prisons - they could not afford them. They either killed the miscreant or banished him.
- WalterBright 9y ago
  I never hear of anyone even attempting to live like a stone age person would. Nobody who romanticizes it ever seems to try it. Even people who love backpacking and camping bring along a whole pile of stuff made possible by civilization to make themselves more comfortable. Heck, how many can make a fire without matches? Who'd give up boots? How about that parka? and that lightweight tent? canteen? cotton underwear? pots and pans? jeans? steel knife? trail mix? rain gear? toilet paper? the backpack frame and straps?
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - labster 9y ago
    You're confusing civilization with technology. You should stop. Yes most technologies have been invented in civilizations, but that doesn't stop people outside of cities from using them. Fur trappers of the 1800s were not living a civilized life, even though they had steel knives.
    - WalterBright 9y ago
      I think you missed my point. Given a choice, it seems nobody actually wants to live like stone age people, including everyone who is posting in this thread. Even the people who like "roughing it" make plenty use of modern technology, all of which was invented and made possible by civilizations.
  - stu432 9y ago
    I'll just leave this here... https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com

I don't wish to go full fairy tale, which is why I only mentioned facts. One of my exes did a PhD thesis on California Native Americans during the mission period. The Spanish introduced the locals to the concept of corporal punishment, which afawct was alien to them. None of this is to say that they were without technology, because science and technology are definitively human traits. Boat tech was pretty decent for the Chumash, and they traded inland to the desert tribes. But there's an attitude that civilization must be superior here among lots of commenters here, with an obvious ignorance of what uncivilized life was actually like. We have traded away free time, clean environments, and live with family; for medicine, safety, and iPhones. We have also traded infant mortality, exile, and ignorance; for anomie, prisons, pollution, and tyrants.

WalterBright 9y ago
Slavery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_among_the_indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_among_the_indigenous_p... You're right that primitive societies did not have prisons - they could not afford them. They either killed the miscreant or banished him.
WalterBright 9y ago
I never hear of anyone even attempting to live like a stone age person would. Nobody who romanticizes it ever seems to try it. Even people who love backpacking and camping bring along a whole pile of stuff made possible by civilization to make themselves more comfortable. Heck, how many can make a fire without matches? Who'd give up boots? How about that parka? and that lightweight tent? canteen? cotton underwear? pots and pans? jeans? steel knife? trail mix? rain gear? toilet paper? the backpack frame and straps?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- labster 9y ago
  You're confusing civilization with technology. You should stop. Yes most technologies have been invented in civilizations, but that doesn't stop people outside of cities from using them. Fur trappers of the 1800s were not living a civilized life, even though they had steel knives.
  - WalterBright 9y ago
    I think you missed my point. Given a choice, it seems nobody actually wants to live like stone age people, including everyone who is posting in this thread. Even the people who like "roughing it" make plenty use of modern technology, all of which was invented and made possible by civilizations.
- stu432 9y ago
  I'll just leave this here... https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com