Thursday, July 2, 2020

The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond


This proves to be a surprisingly good read. He contrasts hunter-gatherer societies, especially those in New Guinea, with WEIRD societies – white, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic. A taste…

P174 Even studies of child development that claim to be broadly cross-cultural – eg comparing German, American, Japanese and Chinese children – are actually sampling societies all drawn from the same narrow slice of human cultural diversity…. As a result, those and other state-level modern societies have converged on a small range of child-rearing practices that by historical standards are unusual.

P300 real difference between hunter gatherer, traditional societies and WEIRD ones is that the traditional society allows you to have sex whenever you want, but you really worry about where the next meal is coming from…

P301 describes practise of pooling food resources in traditional societies... Even those who have not participated in the foraging or hunting get a share.

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