<There's a pretty staggering book by Susan Blackmore called The Meme Machine discussing the idea of memes as evolving and self replicating units of culture - in other words ideas which catch on. The basic thesis of her book seems to be that (as is the case with a gene) a meme's sole interest is its own perpetuation irrespective of the consequences for its human host, hence the popularity of occasionally self-destructive ideas. Farming is basically a meme that caught on and forced those who didn't take to it into a "keeping up with the Joneses" position - hence its popularity (almost, I guess, as a means of placing oneself at the top of a heirarchy) despite the fact that "farming did not make life easier, nor did it improve nutrition, or reduce disease." (page 26/7 in my paperback copy - Oxford University Press) >
Farming is necessary, but not sufficient. The men in the Varna Graveyard, 3000BC, averaged into their late 30's, women into their mid 40's. Dramatically longer lifespans than any hunter/gather tribes. The diff is matriarchy. it keeps the population stable without destroying the environment and provides better nutrition for the kids, who- while fewer, grow up to be healthier.
Farming was a quantum leap when people lived polyamorously, before the introduction of virulent STDs. It allowed people to live in a manor hall, with one fire that kept everyone warm, and 24/7 childcare on hand from the elders.
Of course hunting tribes dont try to maintain economically independent nuclear families, and comparing their communal lifestyle to the nuclear family of the yeoman farmer makes it look good.
but the meme in this case, was a system to separate the warriors so that they were not fighting over each other's women. which will happen in any system run by men. Women at the top of the power structure dont have the problem. Like the Mosou of SW China, their financial security lies not in a relationship with any man, but the corporation that owns the house they raise their kids in.
If one looks at the work of Milgram, Bandura, Zimbardo, & Janis on group think and the way authority works you can see the cognitive dissonance that set in and destroyed many cultures. And of course, the same thing is going on now. Rational discourse on the political forums has a trivial effect.
I have likewise lost track of the number of times posters on archeology lists have told me that matriarchies never existed. It was only this year, when I discovered that the Mosou STILL EXIST, that these canned responses coming out of group think have declined.
Some of the points by Janis:
http://www.cedu.niu.edu/~fulmer/groupthink.htm
relate to many of the threads here where unwarrented dismissiveness is applied to any position that falls outside the standard memes of academic archeology.
I've had some fun at political forums with
http://www.911myths.com/assets/images/molten_steel.jpg
You cant get steel that color burning Jet fuel or any other hydrocarbon without, at the very least, adding pressurized oxygen to the point of combustion. If you dont believe me, as a welder.
Because the implications challenge the official 911 report so obviously, I've received lotsa flames, ad hominum, and irrational attempts at rebuttal, like saying that maybe its aluminum. Again, I've melted aluminum with a torch. It turns to soup without ever turning red. This, challenge, I note, I received from someone who doubted my word, but had not actually shown the photo to a welder.
The power of group think created by the media is remarkable. Its real simple. just show the photo to a welder. But the supporters of the official 911 report cannot believe me, and they cant ask a welder.
Dr. Freud wrote of this, how innovative a neurotic can be in trying to defend a delusion. Its well understood how intractable the condition is, but by the same token, neurotics remain somewhat *functional*. Its a damn moot point how delusional a population can be. Archeology shows us several examples where the delusion was shattered & the entire system broke down, sometimes over the course of a single day.
Another contribution by archeology, now that it has extended its work beyond the monumentalism of great empires, is how much more varied the lifestyles were, from matrariarchy to patriarchy, from aggressive to peaceful, from over exploitive & short, to environmental consciousness that lasts for millennia. We have a lot more social models to choose from if we can step beyond the limits of group think to understand what was going on.
Any god watching me hasta be bored, and needs to get a life.
It doesn't matter a bit where we talk about it.
