On Tue, Aug 5, 2014 at 7:56 PM, corinnalackmann <corinnalackmann@gmx.de> wrote:
Adding to the discussion about hunter/gathers versus farmers (can't remember the thread):

a) yes, stone-age hunter/gatherers had more spare time than we have today
b) I am not exactly sure, if civilization made us happier
 
Number one problem here in Germany is currently burnout and it was a few years back lower back pain. I really wonder about Traveller. Will the people still work 40 hour work weeks or will the competition have driven them to 80 hours or will they go the other way and not have to work unless they want to like Star Trek?
 
c) hunter/gatherers have to be lucky to pass the age of thirty
 
This is AVERAGE age (I think) and is very related to very high child mortality rates and not the average death age of a person that made it to 26 in the first place.
 
d) cereals (i.e. farming produce) are the only reliable all-year-round fuel source for the making of alcoholic beverages

Equator to pole, desert to rainforest, I am sure this varies greatly. I know that my survival skills are WAY better near Seattle. Just on the other side of the mountains I would not have much of a chance. I know that on a new planet I would be SOL. High tech greatly increases our ability to travel and live well. Perhaps a real stoneager would not be as greatly uneducated as me and have a much better chance but I am not to sure about that.

 
e) 'd)' is the reason why some of the newer anthropologists theories (which quite often have an air of guess-work on them) claim that humanity only became sedentary to get a steady supply of booze (or, rather, beer)

(eating fermented fruit isn't just the same, try it out...)

There is some very interesting stuff out there about an anthropologist studying the, "fierce people". He married a woman from the tribe and took her back to the USA. Funny things that I remember was that she missed eating spiders and then was very joyful to find that McD french fries tasted the same. She hated being stuck in a, "box", all day but like shopping. She missed having family, friends and enemies around her 24-7. She split with her husband and went back to the tribe but did leave behind a few kids.

All this is from my likely not perfect memory.
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