Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Our survival instinct has not changed since our cavemen days and we still fear new ideas

Thousands of years ago man walked the planet scratching out a living from the land. Survival was not just a popular TV show; it was everything.  Man was technologically challenged by today’s standards. Only the strongest survived, which is an adage still true today, especially on Wall Street.  Man learned and developed technology to make his life easier. Fire probably played a big role is making life better for early man. I believe when fire was discovered and harnessed by early man, many said it was only a fad and would never have an impact on people’s lives. The naysayers said it was a cheap gimmick and they would not be caught dead with such a dangerous evil thing like fire. Today the naysayers are still alive and well in Washington D.C.


Man usually reacts to new ideas in the same way. It would be my guess the common wisdom of the day for early man was; fire is evil, hard to prove, but a normal human reaction to the unknown concept of fire.



When electricity was discovered and harnessed for the first time the common wisdom of the day reflected human nature at its best, no one could see any use for electricity. Very similar to the reaction of IBM and AT&T when asked to help network computers together in the late 1960’s they could see no reason to have a computer network. The starting date of the Internet is usually considered January of 1983, but had IBM taken up the cause in the 1960’s they could have invented the internet instead of Al Gore.



Man has always feared the unknown, only with knowledge and understanding comes acceptance. The early men who used fire as a tool were way ahead of the others; they were the early adaptors to this new technology.

The Kitchen Table Anthropologist


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Our Obsession with Stuff - But not to the level of the cable TV show "Hoarding"


We seem to spend our entire lives getting stuff, storing stuff, giving old stuff to the Good Will, organizing stuff, and passing stuff along to our children and just dealing with stuff.

We are pack rats and when you hear the term pack rats we probably learned to be pack rats from small furry animals. We are so into our stuff that I want to scream, it seems to go on and on. We even have storage areas we can rent to help us keep our stuff. People will put stuff away for years in storage and can’t remember what kind of stuff they have.

Some people are very obsessed by their stuff, but even the “normal” people get hung up on stuff. My Sister has a rule about stuff, it you haven't used it in a year get rid of it. It's a good rule, but most people can’t fight thousands of years of needing stuff to survive.

My theory on stuff comes from our early days of having nothing. Without our stuff like animal skins, stone axes, stone knives and such, we would not survive. I think it's really a survival instinct that goes way back in our subconscious and our early days as cavemen and cavewomen.

Today we can survive without a lot of stuff but we can’t change our subconscious impulses to collect it.

We are all still into our stuff. But most of us fall short of the current cable TV shows about hoarding, which I find just fascinating.

The Kitchen Table Anthropologist



Monday, October 4, 2010

Why men can't ask for directions

In the days before we had GPSs in our cars men could not stop and ask for directions. They could stop and purchase a map but not ask for directions.

It's an old joke but it's very true - "If men need to ask for directions they need to bring along a woman". Women today have no problem asking for directions and some prefer this over a GPS. For men, Map Quest and Google maps were a God send. Now the GPS is the clear winner and enables men to show no weakness. Because - it's all about not showing any fear or weakness. This does not apply to all men but most men, including me.

Remember, men the male animal, are hunters and for thousands of years have gone out to provide for their families. To survive back in the day, men could not show fear or weakness. That is weakness in front of wild animals or fear in front of caveman enemies. Even today if men are being audited by IRS they can't show any signs of weakness.

Today men may seem a little more sensitive then cavemen, but when push comes to shove, you can't take the caveman out of modern man. Modern man still can't ask for help or directions. It's still a sign of weakness that is not tolerated in today's society, either at the office or in a prison. Everyone today still respects a strong, self-confident individual who shows no fear or weakness.

The more we understand about our past the easier it is to get alone with others and members of the opposite sex.

The Kitchen Table Anthropologist