Modern society is not a happy, tight band of hunter gatherers
HIDESIGHT
Evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky declared, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”
Certainly it’s impossible to make sense of politics without understanding where we have come from.
Take socialism. It has proved an unmitigated worldwide disaster. But still the majority of people lap it up and yearn for more.
Here in New Zealand the government dominates our lives, our families, our work. It fails in everything it attempts and our response to the failure is to call for more government.
It doesn’t make sense – except in the light of evolution.
One million years ago our ancestors harnessed fire. No other animal uses fire. And every human society does. Fire changed us. Fire meant campsites. And campsites increased social life.
Camp life produced a division of labour: some would hunt, some forage and some guard the campsite and young. Food had to be shared and the sharing had to be acceptable if the band was to stick together and survive.
Individuals within the bands that worked well together survived and reproduced. They could hunt better and defend better. The selective pressure on our forebears was to empathise and to understand others and so to live better socially within the campsite group.
That’s the life we are adapted for. Think hunter gatherer. Think campsite living. That’s over 99% of human history. The outlook, attitude and psychology of the hunter gatherer band is deep within our DNA.
The 10,000 years since agriculture is less than 1% of human history. And early farming life was nothing like how we live now.
The human experience of living in a vast, complex society where billions of humans co-ordinate anonymously through the mechanism of price is but a blip in evolutionary time.
Our DNA and our outlook have not caught up with modern life.
The evolutionary throwback is seen most obviously in the language and ideas of socialism and politics.
People always talk of “we.” That’s fine for the small group who live together, talk each day, and seek consensus. But the “we” makes no sense when humans live in a society and a world where they don’t know each other, let alone share the same aspirations and goals.
Then there’s the “them.” Hanging over politics and socialism is the fear of external forces beyond our control that “we” must guard ourselves against and protect ourselves from.
That was certainly true in the prehistoric campsite. There were predators happy to have us for dinner. And other human bands ready to attack us. That sense of “them” and “us” is deep within us and is ruthlessly and cynically exploited by power-crazed politicians time and time again.
Think the fear of immigrants. Think the War on Terror. Think the global financial crisis.
The idea of collective action dominates politics: that “we” must “do” something. It makes sense in the small band. The band can collectively decide a course of action. But a modern society can’t. There is no collective “we.”
The language and ideas of politics and socialism are primitive and deep within us. There is lively debate and discussion about what “we” should do. But the “we” in a modern society is not a happy, tight band of hunter gatherers each knowing the other.
The “we” is not New Zealand society. New Zealand society can’t decide a thing. The “we” is invariably the government. It’s the only mechanism of collective action we have in modern society. And the collective action is not based on collective agreement and voluntary action. It’s government decision delivered through police power.
So next time you find yourself saying what “we” should do, stop a moment. Think. And ask yourself: who’s the we?
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Comments and questions20
Disagree, Natures laws governing us/we/them are exactly the same now as they were when we started walking and e'en 'fore then.
The only change today from then is politicians exploiting the selfish within us/we/them to get re/elected have replaced the shamen and readers of goat intestines who wanted to get free food without hunting.
Coming to think about it, nothings really changed, has it?
Cheers
John Morrison. .
John -- I think that's my point.
Evolutionarily, we have not progressed much beyond the days of kings and favourite courtiers and soldier driven tax-collectors. A triennial election is meaningless. If voting was effective, it would be banned. Representative democracy is a joke on the serfs - yes all of you and me. It is time for R-evolutionary movements from the bottom up to take power to the people. Proper checks and balances means dividing up government under the principle Separation of Powers. But that really means separating government at all levels so from bottom to top, government is challengeable.
Miles
Perhaps our "we" in terms of government is too large a group for proper management. With large groups, the actions of some individual/ groups with a common purpose becomes hidden and beyond the awareness/ understanding of the larger group.
There might be some number (perhaps the 120 known individuals in a persons immediate circle) at which the size of the "we" is about right. Back to village mentality?
Wolfman
And the problem of socialism is that eventually one runs out of other people's money to spend
As opposed to capitalism in which banks and governments have colluded to create endless amounts of money from other people's labouring.
Most often in this context "we" means "I and my like-thinking majority" and invokes some kind of force against a minority.
Think harder, beyond capitalism & socialism....you can do it.
There's nothing beyond capitalism. It's the only economic system that relies on the voluntary transaction: nothing to strive for beyond that.
Excellent thoughtful article. There is just no dought that when you forcefully take from a persons earning their own income and give to one not earning you slowly and surely destroy both.
We can accept a certain level of support for those with genuine needs through no fault of their own but universal welfare such as superannuation,working for families and interest free student loans is absolutely destroying us.
Nearly half our adult population on welfare.
Redistribution to fit able bodied people is meant to be a temporary assistance,not a way of life
To denounce 'we' is to equally and effaciously denounce the 'I'.It is a paradigm. One cannot uphold individualism without acknowledging collectivism, hence the reason for the conflict of argument.In response to Mark how have so many of our 'voluntary capitalist transactions' created so much resentment amongst volunteers?What could have gone wrong with the perfect capitalist system?Maybe there is more to strive for after all.
Sorry you miss his point in the article. It is not to denounce the "we" but to actually understand who "we" is.
Looking darkly, in socialism, the "we" is the self-appointed elite who take our money and impose their views whilst living corruptly apart (see USSR, China, Helen Clark), but in capitalism, the "we" is the hidden corporate hand of greed exploiting the naive and innocent.
And what are the alternatives?
capitalism is based on -inequality,indebtedness,lies,and deceit.
Oh yes Greece has the complete answer, a real success story.
Socialism is based on envy, jealousy and always wanting some else to pay for what you want.
If not who are we, then it has to be be who am I. Do we really have to live in a world thats all about me?
The only trouble with an individualist system (and I am a dyed in the wool capitalist) is where the population pressure becomes so great that you again need to define society in terms of "we" and the group need otherwise the resources become exhausted and society collapses - Mayans, Easter Island etc.
That is where capitalism breaks down I believe - at the end game when sustainability needs to be guaranteed until new resources or living room (or both) can be found by new technology or exploration.
The hard part is knowing when a society is at that point, but there are warning signs that the globe as a whole may be getting there. This may facilitate the retun of the "we".
Great insight in here!
forget Police enforcement , you have missed a step in evolution, have you read the history of the finacial tinkering before the last great depression, its the financial institutions that will do the work for the goverment, no Police required ! The WE are to stupid to read history ! Most probably dont light a fire anymore .....
You cannot do for a man what a man can and must do for himself.
Those of you who know who said that many years ago will surely understand that when you forcefully take from one able bodied man to give to another able bodied man....you destroy both