The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? by Jared Diamond
Traditional societies are not a panacea of everything good. If that were the truth, they would not so readily adopt western lifestyles when given the chance. However, they are not all bad. There are many parts of traditional society that have readily observable benefits, while others that we may not recognize now. The author primarily spent time in New Guinea, but also observes other societies.
Traditional societies tend to be more built towards small groups. This results in a "legal system" that encourages people to come up with solutions that will allow them to continue on living together.(Alas, the "solutions" are more likely to involve death in more challenging cases.) Interactions with other groups can also be challenging. People expect everywhere to be "claimed" by some group, and a need to appropriately negotiate for usage.
Health and eating habits are different in these societies. Spending a day without food is not uncommon as is feasting later. Out bodies seem to be well adapted for this. Alas, modern society has continued with the feast part, but without the fasting. This his lead to obesity and diabetes and other diseases. We also tend to be much more sedentary. Add to this the ready availability of sugars and processed food, and we see widespread health problems in the west spreading. The New Guinea highlanders that move into the cities are likely to become obese and disease ridden.
Other areas that we may be missing are languages. In places like the New Guinea highlands, groups a few miles away may be isolated and speak totally different languages. People would need to learn multiple languages to be able to communicate. Now single languages are spread far and wide. On an individual level, there are benefits to learning new languages (possibly even staving off Alzheimer's.) For society, we loose greatly with each language extinction.
Child rearing is quite different in hunter-gatherer societies. Birthing practices may differ from society to society. Mothers typically nurse on demand. This typically leads to natural birth control, with babies about 4 years apart. (It is difficult to care for multiple babies when constantly moving.) Children typically sleep together with their family. There is not much privacy. Even sex may be observed by others. Elders are highly respected. They often have knowledge that others don't have that may be useful at a future day.
Traditional societies have their challenges. They are more likely to be killed by wild animals or by starvation. Infant mortality is lower. Mothers are more likely to die during childbirth. Babies that cannot be cared for may be abandoned. Life expectancy is low. Conflicts may be solved by battles and death. Food variety is limited.
The world of the hunter-gatherer is not easy. However, our western lifestyle is perhaps too easy and isolated. Did we throw too much out on the quest to modernity?
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