> [!infobox] <s class="aside-in"><em>mentioned in 1 topic, 8 evergreens</em></s> #### [[Foraging was a very sustainable lifestyle]] [[Foraging]] was the main mode of life for hundreds of millennia of [[human evolution]]. It wasn't until [[Farming outcompeted foraging by allowing for higher populations]] that it dropped from the top spot, and that mainly because [[Farming prevented a return to foraging for early humans]]. The three main aspects that made foraging sustainable were: - [[Foraging kept populations down]] - [[Foraging allowed for a diverse diet]] - [[Foragers suffered less from disease]] These traits meant that foragers could live relatively healthy lifestyles for both themselves and their surroundings. While their individual lives may have been hard at times, physically foraging didn't have many downsides and there wouldn't have been many pressures to leave the lifestyle. %% #TO/TEND/WEED this transition %% However, these are not the only reasons foraging was so stable. [[There is a limit to the size of a group ordered purely by personal communication]] and most bands of [[hunter-gatherers]] likely fell within this limit. This means that the [[Imagined reality]] of the tribe could be easily shared by word of mouth. This means that [[hunter-gatherers]] stability can also be explained by:: [[Social order is built off of a shared belief in an imagined reality]], and [[Social control promotes highly altruistic behavior within groups]]. This meant that, baring great natural disaster, an ecosystem with foragers in it would be stable for possibly hundreds of thousands of years. [[David Graeber]] would cite this as the strongest aspect of [[hunter-gatherers]] stability, as it is part of his definition of [[equality]]: [[What does equality even mean]]. Understanding that [[hunter-gatherers]] likely had and relied on social skills in day to day life is important for:: correctly understanding [[The Indigenous Critique]] and [[Hunter-gathers were capable of mass cooperation]] ### <hr class="footnote"/> **Status**:: #EVER/GREEN *edited 7:35 AM - July 08, 2022* **Topics**:: [[foraging]], [[human advancement]], [[hunter-gatherers]], #### References ![[The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber#citation]] > ![[10_Sources/books - The Dawn of Everything#^261572339]]