The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race (by Jared Diamond)

Re:The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race (by Ja... by pg on Thursday August 16, 2007 @07:06PM (#43250)

Anyone who thinks hunter gatherers had pleasant lives should stop to think what happened to people who were too old to follow the tribe when it moved, or what happened when a mother who was already nursing had another baby.

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Re:The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race (by Ja... by ivankirigin on Thursday August 16, 2007 @08:28PM (#43289)

Indeed. I love this comic: http://static.flickr.com/100/267584452_4c7f35863f.jpg

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Re:The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race (by Ja... by Tichy on Thursday August 16, 2007 @08:21PM (#43284)

I don't think all hunter gatherers where nomads (but some agriculturalist are, or do shepherds not count), and I think I read in another book that nursing actually acts as contraceptive (Edit: I just saw that the article also mentions infanticide to keep children spaced four years apart, so true, some gruesome aspects are there).

Anyway, the point is certainly not to recommend going back to a hunter gatherer lifestyle. Although I wonder if startupping is not somewhat akin to hunting.

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Re:The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race (by Ja... by jey on Saturday August 18, 2007 @09:37PM (#43952)

The good news is that it's hard for a person to care about that once he's dead.

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