Re: primordial groups competing

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Robert Snower wrote:

>It seems to me quite plausible that the
>myriad of early societies were compelled to complete ONE against the OTHER
>for survival, the group's destiny, and its particular BRAND of cultural
>solution, being at stake. This conversion of the selection process from the
>individual unit to the group unit being the whole point of the primordial
>cultural device, thereby enabling the altruism required by a highly
>differentiated society of animals not genetically qualified for it.
>

I personally like this concept of small groups of humans competing (band vs
band) to arrive at a successful cultural adaptation. I have toyed with the
idea that maybe the evolution of art, sport, games, may have been due to
their value as "displacement activities" and ways of reducing intra-group
tension. Groups which had cultural means of reducing tension would have
been more effective and cohesive.


jodea@dpie.gov.au (Julian O'Dea)

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