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Description
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Publié par | Everest Media LLC |
Date de parution | 05 avril 2022 |
Nombre de lectures | 0 |
EAN13 | 9781669378693 |
Langue | English |
Poids de l'ouvrage | 1 Mo |
Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0150€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.
Extrait
Insights on Christopher Ryan's Civilized to Death
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4
Insights from Chapter 1
#1
The story of civilization is that we have progressed from being primitive and brutish to being sophisticated and abundant. However, this Narrative of Perpetual Progress is poisonously destructive. It generates deep distrust of ourselves and each other, shame and disgust toward our animal bodies, and fear and hostility toward the natural world.
#2
The neo-Hobbesian view of human nature is that we are all born with a tendency toward nastiness, brutality, and suspicion, and that unless we are counteracted by the civilizing influences of authoritarian institutions, we will inevitably turn into nasty brutes.
#3
There are many similarities between modern foragers and prehistoric people. The foraging way of life is sustainable, and has lasted hundreds of thousands of years. It is no more primitive than any other lifestyle.
#4
The human body is a reflection of the past, and many of our behaviors and biases are reflections of the ancient worlds our ancestors lived in. Our bodies are shaped by the experiences of our ancestors, and it takes many generations to change course.
#5
It is important to understand the difference between capacities and tendencies. We are capable of a wide range of behaviors, but not all of them resonate with our nature as a species.
#6
The Pirahã, a group of foragers in the upper Amazon, laugh about everything. They laugh when they catch a lot of fish, when they catch no fish, and when they’re full and they’re hungry.
#7
Until the radical transformations triggered by agriculture around ten thousand years ago, human lives were characterized by egalitarianism, mobility, sharing of minimal property, open access to the necessities of life, and a sense of gratitude toward an environment that provided what was needed.
#8
The origins of our species are similar to those of other humans, as we have always lived as foragers. The commonalities between foragers around the world are because of their foraging lifestyle.
#9
The belief that things just keep getting better as time goes on is a common one, and it is fueled by a psychodynamic yearning for the carefree innocence of infancy. But there is no solid reason to believe that things just keep getting better.
#10
The phrase noble savage was originally coined by a French lawyer in 1609 to describe American Indians as noble, because they were generous and respectful. However, it has been used to describe all cultures that are generous and respectful, which is not the case.
#11
The wealth of the Indians was accompanied by what looked like material poverty to a European. However, this was because they had learned how to share with each other.
#12
The lives of foragers are very familiar, as they are completely defined by their conflicts between the generosity of their hunter-gatherer nature and the inducements to selfishness typical of civilization.
#13
The prosocial survival impulse that is embedded in our hunger for justice, our comfort sharing food with others, and our reflexive feelings of love and protectiveness for children is a product of our evolutionary history.
#14
We are often encouraged to never give up hope, when clinging to hope only drags us deeper into hopeless situations. Deluded hopefulness is nourished by a culture that encourages blind faith in progress, no matter how hard this faith bumps up against reality.
#15
Ronald Wright argues that the myth of progress is as intellectually baseless as it is emotionally comforting. We tend to dismiss any evidence that might suggest the future will be worse than the present, while accentuating anything that paints a brighter picture of the future.
#16
The NPP states that our cleverest ancestors invented farming technologies in order to make their lives better. However, the transition to agriculture was detrimental to the overall quality of life for the people born thereafter.
#17
The advent of agriculture was not a clever advance, but a desperate attempt to survive.