Would you live in a traditional, tribal, society if you could?

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KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime

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Jan 12, 2010
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PaulH said:
No thanks. I have way too many medical problems. That and I like modern petroleum goods. I like being able to jump on my motorbike and undertake journeys utterly unimaginable for hunter-gatherer societies in a span of a few hours. I would like to have access to modern technologies and everybody else was a hunter gatherer. All hail the empress of Earth.
Even throwing your friends under the bus for that? Thank goodness you're not our leader.

OT: Hmm... I'm trans, disabled, and I'm a prissy wuss, anyone of those things potentially could get me killed. Plus the lack of access to modern medicine, technology, and prepared/per-gathered/per-butchered foods? No thanks there either. Also the lack of access to the styles of clothing I find most comfortable? Again, Hell no.

The whole noble savage idea sounds really cool on paper, but it's totally incompatible with human nature, thus never actually existed.
 

Addendum_Forthcoming

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Feb 4, 2009
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KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime said:
PaulH said:
No thanks. I have way too many medical problems. That and I like modern petroleum goods. I like being able to jump on my motorbike and undertake journeys utterly unimaginable for hunter-gatherer societies in a span of a few hours. I would like to have access to modern technologies and everybody else was a hunter gatherer. All hail the empress of Earth.
Even throwing your friends under the bus for that? Thank goodness you're not our leader.
You can be my lieutenant! In all honesty, yeah. I'd make a horrible leader of a country/world/universe.
 

Nirallus

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Sep 18, 2014
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There is a great deal of evidence that pre-state societies were orders of magnitude more violent than modern ones. And the only people keeping the myth of the noble savage alive do so for ideological reasons: They believe that if we once admit that primitive societies were not an idyllic utopia ? in fact their lives were much worse than even the poorest of ours ? it would be used to justify racism, imperialism, and colonialism.
 

Level 7 Dragon

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Mar 29, 2011
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Depends on the tribal society. I remember watching a documentary about some tribes in Siberia and how they keep up with the modern times. It was interesting seeing a family in an igloo wearing traditional clothes while watching television and serfing the web all powered by a diesel generator.

However they were still devout pagans and took time out of their day to worship the gods so the snow storm would spare them. Some are actually proffesors that studied in Moscow, yet came back to their tribe.

The economy of such tribes is fairly interesting. They get most of their income from selling deer and hide. They started to use internet only to be able to communicate with traders more efficiently and are generally fairly skeptical about technology.

One problem, when somebody is sick, the tribe is usually unable to provide medical services. Plus, there are no roads to the tribes, so the doctors are forces to arrive by helicopter and it takes a few hours to get from the tribal areas to the nearest hospital. It became such a big problem that doctors began to travel on chinhooks which carry most medical equipment on them.

The Russian government really does not know how to deal with them, as some refuse to make contact, let alone have passports. As a result it is fairly expensive to build roads to those communities.

In short, some tribes don't make contact with the outside world, while others are fairly modern and home most basic comforts.

I guess I can live in a tribe, providing they arn't far off from a town or a city and make contact with the outsiders.
 

Albino Boo

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Jun 14, 2010
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Seeing 25-30% of adult males are murdered in hunter gatherer societies, I think I will give that one a miss.
 

JoJo

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Nah, not without my technology, I like being connected to the world. I was going to say that my coeliac disease diet (gluten free) would be hard to maintain, but if they were hunter-gatherers rather than farmers then that might not be a problem.
 

Thaluikhain

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Nirallus said:
And the only people keeping the myth of the noble savage alive do so for ideological reasons: They believe that if we once admit that primitive societies were not an idyllic utopia ? in fact their lives were much worse than even the poorest of ours ? it would be used to justify racism, imperialism, and colonialism.
Eh, I think there's a few other ideological reasons as well, the idea that society has weakened or corrupted people, and we should all go back to the good old days. The only example I can think of where people tried this was the Khmer Rouge. Yes, really, really not an example to emulate.

You've also got people suffering from severe fairytale poisoning.
 

Mr Fixit

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No thanks, I'm sure I could do it if I had too, but I do like my modern conveniences.

I would love to live somewhere that I didn't have to drive for an hour to get to the nearest store though. In fact I wish I lived where I didn't have to drive at all. I enjoy driving & cars & all that, but traffic & other people really ruin the whole experience.
 

veloper

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Jan 20, 2009
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Sure "none of the stresses or worries of living in a developed society," and all the stress of fighting to survive every day.
Civilization is better.
 

Elementary - Dear Watson

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Nov 9, 2010
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Odd question to ask a bunch of people that are gathering on modern technology to discuss other modern technologies.

No. Definitely not. I like living life knowing that random things I don't understand could kill me at a moments notice. At least in society I can know how to avoid illness and have people who can at least try and cure any that slip through the net. I like being able to buy lots of interesting, great tasking foods, instead of worrying if I can eat that day. Or only eating the same bland things every day. And I would much rather have conversations with people than make exchanges through a series of grunts and screams.
 

Twintix

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Jun 28, 2014
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Naw, mate. As much as I'd like to believe I could handle it, the modern way of living is too cozy and convenient for me to give up.
 

sageoftruth

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Jan 29, 2010
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Ihateregistering1 said:
"...and overall none of the stresses or worries of living in a developed society."

This sounds great, until you die a painful death from some disease we can easily cure with modern medicine.

But anyway, I'll play. I guess there would be something sort of cool of basically living in a society where you know exactly what you're supposed to do. You exist to support your tribe, get married, make some babies, and die, and you're always surrounded by people who you know and have a strong connection to. I can see the appeal in that.

But that's also the bad part. You're going to live an ultra-tradition bound life dictated by the Tribe, and they are going to have a lot of control over you. Rejecting their beliefs and way of life is not acceptable, and you need them to survive.

But ultimately, it would be tough for me to go from living with the creature comforts I have now to never getting them again.
Yeah, that's usually the thing about tribes and small communities. They're great as long as you fit in. If I was born into one and didn't end up being the one who questioned everything, I'm guessing I'd probably live a happier life than in a more developed society.
 

sageoftruth

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Jan 29, 2010
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Elementary - Dear Watson said:
Odd question to ask a bunch of people that are gathering on modern technology to discuss other modern technologies.

No. Definitely not. I like living life knowing that random things I don't understand could kill me at a moments notice. At least in society I can know how to avoid illness and have people who can at least try and cure any that slip through the net. I like being able to buy lots of interesting, great tasking foods, instead of worrying if I can eat that day. Or only eating the same bland things every day. And I would much rather have conversations with people than make exchanges through a series of grunts and screams.
What random things? Don't you remember what the village elder told you? The mountain god is simply angry with us. If we find a goat and cut him open lengthwise at the altar, your coughing will stop. Trust me.

Also, what do you mean "Lots of interesting great tasting foods?" We've got raw rabbit, raw gazelle, raw termites, and even raw deer. They're the best tasting things we've ever eaten.
 

renegade7

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Feb 9, 2011
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What you're thinking of isn't tribalism or subsistence economics but actually a post-scarcity economy, one in which resources are so abundant and easily acquired that there is no need for money or trade. This does not necessarily imply anarchy in which there is no ownership, but it does lend itself to that.

To an extent, tribal societies did live in something like a post-scarcity environment. Some didn't have a strict concept of personal ownership of goods and many didn't believe that it was really possible to "own" land, but that doesn't mean that things weren't "claimed", for lack of a better word, by groups or individuals. For instance, even though an area of land might not be "owned" by any particular tribe in the way we would use the word, it could still be regarded as their territory in that it would be seen as disrespectful for another tribe to use it or try to take its resources. The same goes with physical goods. This was the case because often resources were so abundant that property rights didn't need to be strictly enforced, but they did have economies and systems of trade, just not ones we'd be familiar with.

Aboriginal or Native people are just as human as anyone else and therefore just as prone to greed, but because they live in very different cultures and have very different material interests it just takes a different form than what we usually think of. It's unrealistic to try to spin it as a fall from grace myth where everything was wonderful, pure, and perfect until the corrupting influence of evil came along and ruined everything.

Honestly, no, I wouldn't want to live in a tribal society, but I would like to live in a post-scarcity society where I could worry about things besides what meaningless toil I'm going to need to do this month to pay my bills.
 

Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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Misericorde said:
Something Amyss said:
I get enough tribalism from video game discussion. I don't need to live in a culture based around it.
Spoken like a typical nīưing!!![footnote]Said in jest, please don't duel me![/footnote]
I have it on good authority that I'm a fake...whatever you just said/.
 

Katherine Kerensky

Why, or Why Not?
Mar 27, 2009
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I'm one of those people that answering yes would mean death for.
If that weren't the case, however... dunno. Maybe. Depends on how much not the case.
If I had to choose that life, and be completely healthy, or this one and be unhealthy... that's a very, very hard choice.
So long as I knew the conditions under which I'd be there, and I don't just mean how good the place is... well, if I liked them, I'd... possibly say yes.
As I said, hard choice.
But as it is, and as I am, a resounding "no" from me.