Anthropologist debunks Darwin’s most abused idea | James Suzman

James Suzman lived with a tribe of hunter-gatherers to witness how an ancient culture survives one of the most brutal climates on Earth. His learnings may surprise you.

What do you imagine life was like for hunter-gatherers throughout human history? You might guess that daily life for them was a constant struggle between eating and being eaten in a world where surviving was a full-time job.

But anthropological research suggests that probably wasn’t the case. When the anthropologist James Suzman went to the Kalahari Desert to study the Ju/'hoansi hunter-gathers, for example, he found that they worked only 15 hours per week, and that much of that time was spent on activities that many people in the modern West consider leisure, like hiking and fishing.

Of course, hunter-gatherers experienced plenty of hard times throughout world history. But a general theme has emerged from anthropological research on hunter-gathers both contemporary and ancient: Rather than being a constant battle for energy between people and their environment, life was more of a continuous flow of give and take between species, and leisure was part of the fabric of daily life.

As Suzman told Big Think, looking at the lives of hunter-gatherers can help us rethink the ways we conceptualize work and society.

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About James Suzman:
With a head full of Laurens van der Post and half an anthropology degree from St Andrews University under his belt, James Suzman hitched a ride into Botswana’s eastern Kalahari in June 1991. He has been working with the Bushmen ever since.

He remains involved in a number of Kalahari initiatives in support mainly of community organizations and NGOs .

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Read more of our stories on anthropology:
Svante Pääbo wins Nobel Prize for discovering an extinct human species via DNA
Did war help societies become bigger and more complex
Biological Big Bang: How we solved Darwin’s dilemma

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[franzs]

"Survival of the fittes" comes from " to fit in (a certain environment)"... It's just misunderstood as "survival of the strongest" because of some economists who use dumb analogies 🤦‍♂️

[alexcarter]

When I got into small business I found that, contrary to what I'd been taught to think, it was not tooth-and-nail competition with other small businesses in the same field, but very cooperative and friendly. And occasionally I find myself talking a customer out of buying something from me because it's not right for them.

[kingfisher]

There you go. Thanks. I do get very tired of being called "unprofessional" when I take into consideration the "other." One of my supervisors recently told me I couldn't give out 5 cent bags "for free" to customers who were paying with food cards. I told her they had been paid for already by another customer (true, but I also put a few dollars in the register every shift so I can give them out free to everyone). When customers are surprised that the bags are free I tell them someone donated them and they are inspired to throw change in a little kitty sitting on my station so they can "pay it forward." Many men just sweep their change into that kitty and say "I don't like carrying change. Buy someone a bag." Having to pay for shopping bags irritates everyone. At my stand people are, instead, inspired and leave happy and with a sense of the generosity of mankind. I refused to stop paying for the bags. It's a tiny thing, but it brings everyone joy.

[SC-zqcu]

Darwin originally never described his idea as "survival of the fittest", rather as something more similar to "death of the least fit". The reason we remember "survival of the fittest" is because what he actually said was shortened to express his ideas to people who had never heard of it in a very short time and in the process partly butchered what was actually said.

[MrGrumblier]

"Survival of the fittest" was never meant to mean "Survival of the strongest". It means that the organism most suited to its environment will be the most likely to survive and reproduce. The tiny dinosaurs survived after the meteor impact, not because they were the strongest, but because they required less food and water to survive. The rabbit is hardly the strongest animal, yet it took over Australia. "Survival of the fittest" is not only the most abused, it is also the most misunderstood.

[Tenbed]

It never occurred to me that some people would think it was constant effort to survive. I always assumed there was downtime. You gotta eat, sleep, rest in general. As very social animals, humans require time to socialize.

[mindfulnesswithmatt]

"dog eat dog" is what we humans use to justify self interest and cruel acts towards others. We have much to learn from people who have nurtured that kinship with nature and even animals themselves - we're not above them

[peterlustig]

I think we all underappreciate the fact how much our society is based on cooperation. Within one field there is a lot of competition, because we are all taught the idea that we need to be on top to be happy. But between the different fields in our society, almost everything is cooperation. Imagine how your life would like be if you could not use anything that’s been done by another human.

[robertdouglas]

Many gardeners, myself included, start out thinking that gardening is a lot of work and make it so, but gradually they find ways to make it easier by letting the microorganisms in the soil work for you instead of disrupting their work. Ruth Stout was one who publicized her understanding of this method with the book, " How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back: A New Method of Mulch Gardening." When we ask for an easier way and one that focuses less on ourselves as special people and more on the grandeur of the life we are a part of, new methods come to us. As James Suzman quotes the Bible " We are on the earth but not of the earth."

[weareallbornmad]

As an also-anthropologist, I am profoundly uncomfortable with the idea that we can use modern hunter-gatherer communities to learn about stone age peoples. The Ju/'hoansi are not stone age. They are not living like the stone age peoples. They had the same ten or so millennia to change, adapt, and create their own cultures and societies as we did. It's actually been documented that they change _faster_ than "Western" people. They are not fossils to be studied for the past. They are a living, vibrant, ever-changing social group, and they are as modern as you and me.

[AMPofficial]

When he mentioned that animals and hunter-gatheres spend most of their time in leisure, it reminded me of two quotes from two different people:

"What do people like to do when they're not being pushed around? They like to swing, they like to have fun, dance, eat good food, etc."
— Alan Watts

"Human beings must use their energies in productive work, and they want to, and they do. The more freely they can act, the more energetically they improve their living conditions, and the less attention they give to anything else. The fact is that Americans pay no attention to Government so long as it does not interfere with them. Normally they never think of it except at election time. Americans are busy; not half of them even know the names of their Congressmen. Ask the next forty persons you meet, if you doubt it."
— Rose Wilder Lane

[psicologiajoseh]

I just felt an outburst of joy every time he pronounced “The Ju/'hoansi.” I don't know why, but this man pronouncing that gave me a childlike joy.

[Ilovethebush]

i am an indigenous man and this was a brilliant video.

The plants and animals give us their names, like sudden exhales of the nose.

Walk with spirit.

[benchapple]

The problem with comparing at the peoples of the Savannah and Western society is that they don't have a winter and we do. A tremendous amount of effort and organisation must go into having enough food and fuel reserves to survive for 3 months without any ability to find food or heat during that time. Also there is autumn and spring to consider. They don't have those either. All in all, living in temperate climates is tough. Don't imagine that you can do that working 15 hours a week!

[kerryarrant]

I studied Anthropology at UT. This is a beautiful video. It echoes many studies that have been going forward about how humans adapt and overcome problems in the world. Society is cooperation.

[ABC-ytnq]

"Gentling of young men". What an important concept. And we see the consequences of what happens when young men aren't "gentled" and properly socialized to be able to control and channel their aggression in non-harmful ways.

[vivino]

Someone probably already said this but Darwin never used the term “survival of the fittest”, that was the racial ideologue Herbert Spencer. Darwin’s main concept was natural selection. An anthropologist.

[Saf_Shares]

Thanks for this, enjoy the content on this channel.
... One minor sidebar, only because I'm from PNG one of Australia's neighbors. @ 2:39 when the Aboriginals of Australia are mentioned- the picture is actually showing the Asaro mud men of Goroko in the Eastern Highlands Province of PNG.
Just in case people think this is a cultural practice of indigenous Australian's.
Australia and PNG are close geographically with shared history, but contrast quite significantly both ethnically, culturally and linguistically.
All good.
Good Health and Blessings.

[Highley]

I've listened to several big history audiobooks and I noticed that several different authors all pointed out that while agriculture made it possible for more people to survive in a small area, they all included a caveat that this doesn't mean the lifestyle of the average person in an agricultural community enjoys a better life than the average person in a hunter/gatherer culture.

[mediastarguest]

The Plains Indians of the 18th and 19th centuries were a classic example of hunter - gatherer social groups. Neither a single chief nor elite band held authority, successful hunters or warriors or wise men were followed and respected only until their "medicine" failed, the best hunters always killed a little extra game in order to feed those who couldn't hunt and all those who belonged in the tribe were free to leave and return at any time.
Later on, the appropriation of the horse brought corruptive change: those who rode into battle had more advantage and horses became a form of currency in trade.