Hunters and Gatherers
What are we? Really? The most hard core evolutionist would say we are replicators. I agree.
We are good at making copies of ourselves. We have survived millions of years because we make BETTER copies of ourselves. We improve in some way each generation.
What are we fundamentally? The Naked Ape (a great book) says we were fruit gathering herbivores, living in the jungle with other apes. Food became scarce and our ancestors were the ones bold enough to venture out of the jungle.
There was little vegetation in the desert outside the jungle. The naked ape needed to learn how to survive. He became a carnivore.
Actually, omnivore is a better term. Man was an herbivore that adapted to eating meat, because that was the only food available. Man had a problem though. The competitors of the time were well evolved killers. Man was a well evolved grape picker. Somehow Man had to defend himself against accomplished killers and beat those same competitors to the prize.
Man did not have great strength, sharp claws, sharp teeth or any other physical weapon to compete against the killers of the day. Evolution ruthlessly takes species out that do not have competitive advantages. If Man had not had his great advantage, the naked ape would have disappeared from the world.
However, the naked ape had a neo-cortex. This is the 3rd layer of the brain. Reptiles have the same inner brain as Man. Mammals have the same middle brain as Man. Only Man has a neo-cortex…The “New Brain”. This is the difference between humans and animals. The neo-cortex allows us to form concepts, and integrate them with other concepts. It also allows us to do this voluntarily, unlike the reptilian brain that responds only automatically to the 4 F’s of behavior: Fight, Flee, Feed and Find a Friend.
Conceptual thinking allowed the naked ape to build weapons that were stronger than the weapons of his competitors. He was able to defend himself and feed himself.
The naked ape became so successful, that he was able to do something no other animal before had been able to do. He created his own food. It started with agriculture; the naked ape never did get completely away from his herbivore roots. It expanded to livestock. The naked ape could not only hunt food, he could herd it and grow it.
The naked ape became so successful that females became valuable in ways other than producing babies. The male in every species (except maybe Black Widow spiders) provides for the tribe. Females became able to provide for the tribe with the evolution of agriculture. The females could nurture children AND work the land. They became the first Gatherers.
No female in any other species contributes more than the human female. Congratulations ladies. But it gets better. As Man (and yes, this includes females) evolved to his present stage, “hunting” became very specialized. We are so far removed from the physical day to day activities of the naked ape, that few of us “hunt” by actually killing something we intend to eat. We hunt by earning money to pay for food someone else killed for us.
This specialization of labor has allowed Man more time for other things. It’s difficult to discover electricity or build skyscrapers when one spends most of his waking hours hunting for food. We now “hunt” by providing goods and services to other “hunters”, who provide different good and services. Somewhere in that economic chain are people who provide food. However, the chain provides much more than food.
The naked ape has come a long way since venturing out of the jungle.
Sunday May 28, 2006 - 03:21am (MDT)
We are good at making copies of ourselves. We have survived millions of years because we make BETTER copies of ourselves. We improve in some way each generation.
What are we fundamentally? The Naked Ape (a great book) says we were fruit gathering herbivores, living in the jungle with other apes. Food became scarce and our ancestors were the ones bold enough to venture out of the jungle.
There was little vegetation in the desert outside the jungle. The naked ape needed to learn how to survive. He became a carnivore.
Actually, omnivore is a better term. Man was an herbivore that adapted to eating meat, because that was the only food available. Man had a problem though. The competitors of the time were well evolved killers. Man was a well evolved grape picker. Somehow Man had to defend himself against accomplished killers and beat those same competitors to the prize.
Man did not have great strength, sharp claws, sharp teeth or any other physical weapon to compete against the killers of the day. Evolution ruthlessly takes species out that do not have competitive advantages. If Man had not had his great advantage, the naked ape would have disappeared from the world.
However, the naked ape had a neo-cortex. This is the 3rd layer of the brain. Reptiles have the same inner brain as Man. Mammals have the same middle brain as Man. Only Man has a neo-cortex…The “New Brain”. This is the difference between humans and animals. The neo-cortex allows us to form concepts, and integrate them with other concepts. It also allows us to do this voluntarily, unlike the reptilian brain that responds only automatically to the 4 F’s of behavior: Fight, Flee, Feed and Find a Friend.
Conceptual thinking allowed the naked ape to build weapons that were stronger than the weapons of his competitors. He was able to defend himself and feed himself.
The naked ape became so successful, that he was able to do something no other animal before had been able to do. He created his own food. It started with agriculture; the naked ape never did get completely away from his herbivore roots. It expanded to livestock. The naked ape could not only hunt food, he could herd it and grow it.
The naked ape became so successful that females became valuable in ways other than producing babies. The male in every species (except maybe Black Widow spiders) provides for the tribe. Females became able to provide for the tribe with the evolution of agriculture. The females could nurture children AND work the land. They became the first Gatherers.
No female in any other species contributes more than the human female. Congratulations ladies. But it gets better. As Man (and yes, this includes females) evolved to his present stage, “hunting” became very specialized. We are so far removed from the physical day to day activities of the naked ape, that few of us “hunt” by actually killing something we intend to eat. We hunt by earning money to pay for food someone else killed for us.
This specialization of labor has allowed Man more time for other things. It’s difficult to discover electricity or build skyscrapers when one spends most of his waking hours hunting for food. We now “hunt” by providing goods and services to other “hunters”, who provide different good and services. Somewhere in that economic chain are people who provide food. However, the chain provides much more than food.
The naked ape has come a long way since venturing out of the jungle.
Sunday May 28, 2006 - 03:21am (MDT)
posted by BoiseJag at 5:08 PM
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