Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id QAA22663 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 2 May 2002 16:21:27 +0100 Date: Thu, 02 May 2002 08:16:23 -0700 From: Bill Spight <bspight@pacbell.net> Subject: Re: future language To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Message-id: <3CD15847.373BD1C2@pacbell.net> Organization: Saybrook Graduate School X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en]C-CCK-MCD {Yahoo;YIP052400} (Win95; U) Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-Accept-Language: en,ja References: <20020501185110.12762.qmail@web10103.mail.yahoo.com> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Dear Trupeljak,
> First, just because you don't see much loss in subsistence living etc,
> that does not mean at all that there actually *isn't* a loss.
'Subsistence' puts a certain slant on things. It might better apply to
the slum dweller than the forest dweller. They might not have cell
phones, cars, or TV far up the Orinoco, but they might have little use
for them, either. :-) One measure of wealth is leisure. By that measure
most 'savages' are wealthier than most captains of industry.
> Second, ask any anthropologist why do tribal people (having a
> subsistence life) so rarely abandon it, even under extreme pressure
> from outside? Seriosuly, ask that - it might enlighten you a bit about
> our own way of life.
One of the curious facts of the U. S. frontier (even when that frontier
was near the Atlantic Ocean) concerns captured (kidnaped, adopted)
children. Given the chance to return home, it was the rare native child
who preferred not to do so, and it was the rare Caucasian child who
preferred to do so. Many returned Caucasian children ran away to their
adoptive Indian tribes.
Now the cultural judgement of children does not mean as much as that of
adults, perhaps, but adults of any culture prefer their own, as a rule.
Children provide a swing vote. ;-)
Ciao,
Bill
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