The other definition of the word *Assume*

• The Adaptive Gap and the Future of Civilization by Mike Hall, 7/3/98
  
  

I come to this thread long after the initial post, so I am not sure that my post will be seen. However, I see a fundamental issue that doesn't appear to have been raised during the discussion and needs to be raised. A nerve has been touched here, so please bear with me. I will do the very best I can to post my perspective with all due respect to the others on the board.

First of all, Mike, you and I are definitely at the same train station. But I think we are looking for different trains.

There appears to be an assumption here that Hunter-Gatherer mentality is synonymous with patriarchical, hierarchical culture. Au Contraire, friends! This is the very type of Eurocentric thinking that has cursed Western Society ever since those damn Caucasians came out of the Caucasus Mountains (or wherever it was they came from, which is an ongoing debate), warring and raping and pillaging and forming the basis of what we now call Western Society.

To wit, a post was made referring to the new development of women becoming the heads of households. In many HG cultures, women HAVE ALWAYS BEEN the heads of households, and the archeological evidence would suggest that it was only the advent of agriculture (which has been argued was invented by women and co-opted by men) that created the so-called "nuclear family." Men hunted, certainly, and did in this way contribute to the sustenance of the tribe, but the gathering activities of the women are much more likely to have kept the tribe alive. Taking down a Mammoth is not exactly an everyday occurance. The men planned and strategized, and if they were lucky managed to kill themselves one or two Mammoths a year while the moms were home collecting the sustaining food.

I do believe there is an adaptive gap. But I don't believe it is solely due to technological progress creating a conflict with the HG mind. I think the gap also has a lot to do with the TYPE of HG mind we are saddled with in Western Society. We have inherited a domineering, oppressive mind that is obsessed with controlling its environment. We create technology that helps us further this goal (hence, the economic framework of western societies which is based primarily on the use of technology for purposes of war and defense). And this has served a short-term adaptive purpose in that it has facilitated the passage of genes from one generation to the next. I have made a couple of posts with my thoughts on this in more detail elsewhere on the board.

The gap, as I see it, that while this mind allows us to achieve the short-term goal of procreating from one generation to the next, it also faciliates the long-term deterioration of the planet. Genes don't care about that, and they will do all that they can to keep us stuck in the status quo. But there are other societal models from which we can learn, and we can start to close the gap by adopting behavior that allows us to stop obsessing about controlling outcomes and the behavior of others. At which point, technology becomes simply what it should always be, a means to an end, a way in which we can improve our lives.

I believe that the increase in anxiety-based behaviors and dysfunctions is just as you suggest, based on a gap between what we are able to process vs. the technology and sensory input that bombards us. However, I believe the reason for this is that in Western Society, the type of HG mind we have inherited leads to the development of technology that is meant to keep us under the control of those in power, who, of course, strive to keep their power because it facilitates their ability to attract many mates and pass along many genes. It is against their vested interest to create or use technology for the purpose of bettering the lives of others. There is no such thing as altruism in this model of HG society. And we may be reaching "critical mass," as well: The more of us there are, the more widespread the behavior becomes. Gang wars come to mind as one example of this.

But to assume that this is the only way in which society can operate is to limit us in this society and to ignore the societies where this modality does not exist. It is ironic that we even have these societies in our own "backyard," so to speak, i.e., the indigenous cultures of North America, but we are so entrenched in our Western mindset that we cannot even recognize this. We filter everything through our Western minds and make the assumption that everyone must think like we do. Thus bringing me to the other definition of ASS-U-ME.

I encourage you and others reading to see my contributions to the first thread above and also to the thread about "Marilyn Manson" to read about my ideas in this vein in more detail.

And, naturally, comments are most welcome.

Elizabeth Rose

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