Hunter-gatherers - the original affluent society

PREFACE.  Some of the advantages homo sapiens have over other animal species is that we are capable of conscious critical thinking, we can change and adapt consciously and relatively quickly, and we can recognize that there is no absolute but that diversity within the species is beneficial to the individual as well as the whole. I feel that our species was at its best when we were hunter-gatherers. I base this upon social and anthropological studies of historic and surviving hunter-gatherer societies. I also base it upon my own life experience where, as I move toward my life-style comfort zone, I find myself moving more toward the hunter-gatherer mindset - a minimalist living close to nature. I hope this blog will encourage critical thinking about who we are, where we’re going and whether that’s where we want to go. 

DISCUSSION.  I feel confident that a very strong case can be made that homo sapiens were at their best, as a species, when we were hunter-gatherers. Once we forsook this life-style and began to attempt to mold nature to our wills, we gradually became the destructive invasive species we are today. 

I realize that I am at the very best an amateur anthropologist. I say that by way of explanation, not apology.  I’m sure that amateur anthropologists cause great distress among the real anthropologists, but having retired from a 47-year career as a psychotherapist, I realize how the amateur “shrink” was not just annoying but forced us “pros” to confront new and sometimes bizarre ideas, thereby always having to hone our skills.  In any case, as such an amateur, I may not know the lingo but I believe that I can make a sufficiently sound case to force consideration.

Homo sapiens began in northeastern Africa, from the best we can tell. We were an insignificant species of bipeds.  I agree with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem history professor, Dr Yuval Noah Harari  (ref – Ted Talk 7/24/2015), who believes that, if we had stayed where we started, we would probably be extinct by now.  He argues that it was only our ability to work together that saved us and permitted us to spread. There are many other species that work together, most obvious among them being pack hunters like wolves. There has even been observation of cooperation between different marine species. The website sciencedaily.com reported an article from Public Library of Science (12/23/2006) on the hunting cooperation between Moray Eels and Groupers. (ref – www.sciencedaily.com “Fishy Cooperation: Scientists Discover Coordinated Hunting Between Groupers, Giant Moray Eels.”)   But we became capable of superior communication. Or at least we believe that our ability to communicate is superior. I believe that Dr Harari would be inclined to argue that, more than communications, it was the ability to convince another member of our species to act in a particular manner. Nevertheless, we started out as hunter-gatherers. 

Most remaining hunter-gatherer tribes tend to avoid contact with “modern society” as much as possible. In most cases we only encounter them when modern society is invading their homelands and trying to take their hunting grounds and/or way of life away from them.  We have this perverted idea that everyone wants to be like our modern capitalistic western society. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, despite our riches and power, we are probably the socially and economically poorest homo sapiens historically and currently. But that is another argument for another time. Suffice it to say, our mistaken idea that everyone wants to be like us has been found to be why so many of these tribes go to such great lengths to avoid us. We are a poison. Contact with us generally means the death of their culture and life. (ref. –  Bodley, John H. (2015). Victims of Progress, Sixth Edition. Rowman & Littlefield. New York.)  We have this erroneous concept that modern capitalistic society is the only successful culture in history.  

“But when a young Canadian anthropologist, Richard B Lee, conducted a series of simple economic input-output analyses of the Ju/’hoansi as they went about their daily lives, he found not only did they make a good living from hunting and gathering, but they did so on a basis of only 15 hours’ work per week. On the strength of this, anthropologists redubbed hunter-gatherers ‘the original affluent society.’”    (ref. - Why ‘Bushman banter’ was crucial to hunter-gatherers’ evolutionary success. The Guardian. 29 Oct 2017.) 

The surviving hunter-gatherer tribes, as well as their predecessor, experience lower stress and a strong social security. No one says “you’re only worth $7.25/hr” or “you couldn’t go hunting today because you were sick, so you can’t eat.”  Hunter-gatherers may not live as long as us but I sincerely believe that they enjoy a superior quality of life. Our western society has long given up quality for quantity.  For the proof of this premise merely visit a long-term care facility, also known as a nursing home.

Hunter-gatherers also appear to have been mostly pre-religion. This is important.  Religion has done more harm than good to homo sapiens.  For example, people who follow one of the three Abrahamic religions almost always do so out of fear of going to hell or being rejected by their deity. That isn’t healthy.  They also tend to demonize cultures other than their own and are willing to destroy those who do not comply with their belief. Here again I must keep my focus and face this issue at another time.   

I love science.  Quantum physics has opened up a whole new view of reality.  Of course I’m going to be a big fan of quantum physics because it confirms my belief in universal oneness and interdependence.   The down side is that we, as a western capitalistic society, abuse science. We do not use science to increase our knowledge and understanding, or to be better citizens of earth, but to attempt to control and subvert nature for our own immediate gratification. That is suicidal.

Hunter-gatherer societies were small communities, which have shown significant advantages over cities. I am not prepared to take the time to argue the case, but most people would agree that individuals are generally ‘lost’ in cities. In the small hunter-gatherer community there is no way to be lost. You don’t get lost in a village of fifteen or twenty.  There is much more of a sense of the reality of interdependence in a small community. In Buddhist philosophy of life and psychology, the awareness of interdependence is a desirable and extremely healthy state.  If nothing else, there is a great deal more social security in a small community, which is evidenced even in our modern western, capitalistic society.  If you check, you’ll find that it is not the small community that makes giving food to a homeless person a crime. It is now a crime to feed the homeless in seventy-one US cities.  (ref. – http://daisyluther.com/instead-of-helping-homeless-people-71-cities-have-made-it-illegal-to-help-homeless-people)  In the hunter-gatherer community that person who is in need is probably a relative.  

Morna Finnegan gained her Ph.D. at Edinburgh
University for her work on gender egalitarianism
among African hunter-gatherers. 

Such hunter-gatherer societies were/are more truly democratic than our “civilized” culture, which we believe to be so superior.  For example, southeastern Native American tribes were actually far more democratic than the European invaders. (ref. – Hudson, Charles (1976) The Southeastern Indians.  Univ. of Tennessee Press. Knoxville, TN.) Popular history paints a picture of highly sophisticated Europeans coming to a land occupied by primitive heathens. It is true the that Europeans had more advanced weapons and technology, but the indigenous people were often socially far more advanced than the invading Europeans.  Many southeastern tribes had tribal meetings where everyone had a say. Another advantage of a small community. Some tribes even had women chiefs before the European invasions.  "Hunter-gatherers have traditionally represented the exception to theoretical models developed on the basis of hierarchical society," writes Dr Morna Finnegan of the hunter-gatherers among whom she lived. "In these communities the principle of sharing is the most pervasive social fact."  (ref. - Finnegan, Morna (2008)  The Political is personal: eros, ritual dialogue and the speaking body in central African hunter-gatherer society.  Doctoral Thesis. Univ of Edinburgh.) We talk about democracy but we, in truth, live in a plutocracy. (=df government by the wealthy) Plutocracy didn’t start appearing until we began to develop an agrarian society where there were haves and have nots. Hunter-gatherers are closer to pure socialism; i.e. everyone does what they can and receives what they need. You weren’t/aren’t denied food, shelter or care because you can’t put in a forty-hour week. Many of these societies have shown themselves to be more humane, civilized, compassionate and productive.

Of course we know that these hunter-gatherer societies were/are imperfect. I believe we can all agree that there is no such thing as a perfect society. The closes thing to perfect is a society that functions best for all members and assures the species survives into the future.  We have good reason to believe that historic and current hunter-gatherer societies were/are far less imperfect than our modern western capitalistic society and, in many ways, closer to the ideal than our self-destructive, consumption based capitalism.

Sadly, unless there is a horrible event which destroys all modern technology, we will never be able to return to being hunter-gatherers. Even then, it would be extremely unlikely. With some creative thinking and a lot of bold action we could make a valiant effort to adopt some of the beneficial concepts and behavior.  We are capable of acknowledging that we are an interdependent part of nature and live in concert with the nature around us.  We could accept that we have done unbelievable damage to the earth, stop our destructive behavior and work to repair what we have done. It has been done. (ref. – my blog “Elwha – Righting a century of wrong.” www.oldconservationist.blogspot.com  9/23/2017)

There is no way we can ever return to the balance and quality of life of the hunter-gatherer, but there is much we can do to recover the relationship the hunter-gatherer had with the earth and other animals.