Evolutionary Ecology

At book club we discussed The Mind of the Market by Michael Shermer.

He makes the case that our recent evolutionary past as "hunter-gatherers, living in small bands", "created a psychology not always well equipped to understand or life in the modern world."

He is not calling for a return to nature. He just thinks we should understand our own minds better. I liked the book. He makes an interesting attempt to integrate recent psychology research with free market thinking.

Of course, some do call for a complete return to nature:

Anarcho-primitivists advocate a return to non-"civilized" ways of life through deindustrialisation, abolition of the division of labour or specialization, and abandonment of large-scale organization technologies.

We do not live
as we evolved.
Nor would I want to!
We have solved
the limits of
the tribal way
and stepped into
this global day.

If you prefer
to hunt and gather,
be my guest!
But I would rather
keep the gifts
of trade and science
while you starve
in blind defiance.