ab9924
Educator / Liar Champion
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2011
- Messages
- 904
- Reaction score
- 135
- Location
- Sharing time between UK and US.
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
As an old backpacker and especially the old part, the absolute value of hot and cold running water is not to be discounted.
prehistoric man could expect a lifespan of around 40 with high infant mortality. medical advances included trepanning in order to let out the demons. starvation was a significant risk, and when another tribe came over the hill without warning, they were probably coming to kill you or worse. popular forms of death included freezing, being killed in battle, or being eaten by large predators. to top off the fun, breeding age for women was mid teens, so that's when you could expect to be taken by your future husband. also, you probably don't get a great degree of choice in the matter.
so, in my professional opinion, you all can have that ****. i prefer to hang out here, have a car, and eat clif bars and diet coke. sure, it sometimes sucks having to work 40 hour weeks because somebody decided that was "full time," but it doesn't suck that much.
This may be a no-brainer, but really. We work more hours than the prehistoric man hunted. We work in artificial environments that stretches our social/family ties, the prehistoric man did all his activities with the involvement of his social/family environment. The prehistoric man was "separated" from the animal kingdom by inventing that the weakest member of his horde was worth enough to support, we eagerly write off everybody who is not competitive enough.
And what do we gain for these sacrifices? We can drive more expensive cars to take an even remoter job. We can buy more expensive houses that we hardly have any time to spend in. We can get hefty investment account balances that evaporate in one swoop at any stock market/credit dip/crash or at any structural unemployment experience. What is the difference between slavery and controlling the prices of all trades by cornering the markets? They teach in school that slavery was the step-ahead that advanced civilization out of the prehistoric age. But was it really a progression or a regression? Is our world today a progression?
This may be a no-brainer, but really. We work more hours than the prehistoric man hunted.
We work in artificial environments that stretches our social/family ties, the prehistoric man did all his activities with the involvement of his social/family environment.
The prehistoric man was "separated" from the animal kingdom by inventing that the weakest member of his horde was worth enough to support, we eagerly write off everybody who is not competitive enough.
In my book a "better" life equates with a longer life.
Equates? Don't ya think that's a bit simple? I mean, at some point people might give up and figure "it doesn't get any better from here, only longer" but I think that's a bad attitude.
Nope not me. You only go around once.
I prefer modern comforts, but the "nasty, brutish and short" meme isn't accurate.
He who lives the longest wins; wouldn't that philosophy render someone a wretched coward?
ps. I don't believe in a conscious afterlife.
You are oversimplifying.
This may be a no-brainer, but really. We work more hours than the prehistoric man hunted. We work in artificial environments that stretches our social/family ties, the prehistoric man did all his activities with the involvement of his social/family environment. The prehistoric man was "separated" from the animal kingdom by inventing that the weakest member of his horde was worth enough to support, we eagerly write off everybody who is not competitive enough.
And what do we gain for these sacrifices? We can drive more expensive cars to take an even remoter job. We can buy more expensive houses that we hardly have any time to spend in. We can get hefty investment account balances that evaporate in one swoop at any stock market/credit dip/crash or at any structural unemployment experience. What is the difference between slavery and controlling the prices of all trades by cornering the markets? They teach in school that slavery was the step-ahead that advanced civilization out of the prehistoric age. But was it really a progression or a regression? Is our world today a progression?
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