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Forget the last 10,000 years: they have been really, really, abnormal for most populations within our species

Forget the last 10,000 years: they hhave been really, really, abnormal for most populations within our species.

Helga Ingeborg Vierich

I lived among hunter-gatherers to learn some lessons from them. This is what they taught me….

For those of you interested in understanding human biological evolution, here is my advice: Forget the last 10,000 years: they hhave been really, really, abnormal for most populations within our species. They have demonstrated the extremes to which our minds and bodies can be taxed and pushed into adapting, but conditions for most humans have not been optimal for a long time, and are, alas, becoming less so. The levels of violence, deceit, hoarding, inter-group warfare, internal rebellion, frequent starvation, rates of infection, misery, and mental illness are, I suggest, indicative of a species on the very edge of its ability to cope.

The very fact that we all recognize how nice it is to not be poor, to have opportunities for interesting work, and that we find great joy in expanding our knowledge about the origins of the universe, of life, and of the way the life support system on the planet works, is not irrelevant. However, we all know perfectly well that MOST of humanity is living through incredible stress and insecurity.

What we need to acknowledge is that there is a terrible price paid, for that little scum of prosperity, happiness, and wonder, that only a few of us get, out of being part of a “civilization”.

Most of humanity pays that price but never gets much glimpse of the prosperity, the happiness, or the wonder. It never used to be this way. Maybe we did not know so much, but everyone knew at least some of whatever there was to know. That was fair. It was just. It feels to me that it would be right if this were true today — it should still be that way.

Opinion: The surprising solution to gun violence

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(CNN) In 1973, two psychologists came up with a clever experiment. They took a group of Princeton Theological Seminary students and asked them to walk across campus to give a lecture on the parable of the “Good Samaritan.” Along their route, the psychologists positioned someone in a doorway, not moving, eyes closed, coughing and groaning as the study subjects went by — someone, in other words, clearly in need of a Good Samaritan’s help.
There was a twist: Before the students left to give their lecture, some were told they were late. Others weren’t told anything at all. That little variation in their situation made all the difference in their behavior.
Only 10% of the students who were “late” stopped to help the slumping man, whereas nearly two-thirds of those who were “on time” stopped to offer help. As the psychologists put it, “On several occasions, a seminary student going to give his talk on the parable of the Good Samaritan literally stepped over the victim as he hurried on his way.”
The two psychologists didn’t know it then — and it certainly wasn’t their intent — but through their study, they demonstrated something unexpected: a key driver of gun violence in America.  Read More