The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
serious crayons:
This article 1999 article in Discover -- so, before Harari -- is by Jared Diamond, another writer of controversial ideas about pre-history. He describes what seems pretty solid archaeological research showing hunter-gatherers were healthier than early farmers based on the condition of their teeth and bones.
Because wild animals and berries offer more varied and nutritional foods, compared to the starchy grains on which ag has always emphasized, average human heights shrunk when they adopted agriculture. In some places that height loss has never been regained. Agriculture also created classist societies -- elites had far better bones and teeth than peasants. Of course, that's still the case today, the elite are not only better off in terms of wealth and power -- they also have far better teeth!
Of course, by our standards prehistoric hunter-gatherers had much shorter lives -- average was only 26 years. But get this, the average lifespan in early agricultural societies was 19.
https://www.swnewsmedia.com/lakeshore_weekly/news/local/plymouth-planning-commission-hears-testimony-on-proposed-hollydale-golf-course/article_1e56138a-15a5-5a4d-97ea-6d67d5e85f95.html
Regarding your mention of his Jewishness, Lee, one other interesting argument Harari makes is that Christianity and Judaism and Islam were all small obscure groups that happened to catch on with masses for one reason or another and have now become the dominant religions of the world. But the same could have happened just as easily with many other religions, he says.
Of course, that's easy for him to say, as he's agnostic. And it's easy for me to accept, because so am I.
Jeff Wrangler:
I don't think I've ever disliked an article by David Sedaris, but I don't like the one in the March 2 issue.
serious crayons:
I think my subscription must have run out, because I don't have that one yet. The Sedaris piece is online, though. What didn't you like about it?
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on February 29, 2020, 09:34:07 am ---I think my subscription must have run out, because I don't have that one yet. The Sedaris piece is online, though. What didn't you like about it?
--- End quote ---
I presume his father is dead by now. I won't criticize Sedaris for his feelings about his father, because they are what they are, or for writing the article, but to publish those feelings in a widely circulated general interest magazine strikes me as airing the family dirty linen in public. To me that's distasteful, even kind of embarrassing, that's all. (Clearly Sedaris isn't embarrassed.) I've never before found anything he's written distasteful, so that saddens me.
I am nosy enough to wonder if his siblings knew about this ahead of publication, and what they think of it.
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on February 29, 2020, 01:35:06 pm ---...airing the family dirty linen in public.
--- End quote ---
Isn't that one of the things he's most known for?
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