{"id":5286,"date":"2019-01-15T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T13:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/?p=5286"},"modified":"2023-11-01T15:47:23","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T19:47:23","slug":"54-bands-family-equality-and-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/?p=5286","title":{"rendered":"54. Bands: Family, Equality, and Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"In<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n

Chapter 2: What Were They Thinking?<\/p>\n

Digression: Government from the Paleolithic to Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Page 54: Band-Level Society<\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

This, then, was our true state of nature… how we lived for tens of thousands of years, almost all of human history. No kingdoms, no towns, no farms… No \u201cpeoples\u201d or tribes or clans… Those narratives wouldn\u2019t be told until fairly recently. Until then, we organized in simple<\/p>\n

Band family walking along grassland.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

BANDS<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

of anywhere from 50<\/strong> to 150<\/strong> people.<\/p>\n

Lone group in a vast desert plain.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

Each band would have been entirely self-sufficient…<\/strong><\/p>\n

MEMBERS<\/em><\/p>\n

As if we have any choice!<\/p>\n

Who else<\/strong> are we gonna rely on?<\/p>\n

Cave art of a hunt.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

Living off the land, foraging for whatever fruits and veg were in season, catching fish and small game…<\/p>\n

CAVE ART CHEERLEADER<\/em><\/p>\n

Hunting big<\/strong> game, too!<\/p>\n

Communal campfire with a chef roasting something.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

…and naturally, sharing<\/strong> everything.<\/p>\n

BAND MEMBERS<\/em><\/p>\n

Selfishness is not<\/strong> a survival skill.<\/p>\n

One for all, and all for one!<\/p>\n

Duh!<\/p>\n

This is my family.<\/strong> The people who\u2019ve loved and cared for me since the moment I was born.<\/p>\n

Whoa… it\u2019s difficult to even think<\/strong> of myself as a distinct individual. My identity is \u201cwe\u201d<\/strong> not \u201cme\u201d.<\/p>\n

Loving family group<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

I imagine they couldn\u2019t have had much privacy…<\/strong><\/p>\n

FAMILY MEMBERS<\/em><\/p>\n

Be… apart?<\/strong> From… we?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pshaw<\/p>\n

Why would anyone do that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Not much loneliness, either.)<\/p>\n

Hiking band<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

…or property.<\/strong><\/p>\n

BAND MEMBERS<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh yes, give me more stuff<\/strong> to lug around from campfire to campfire.<\/p>\n

Absurd.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019d want to be burdened<\/strong> by belongings?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hunter at the cookout.<\/em><\/p>\n

HUNTER<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyway, what stuff we do<\/strong> have we share.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For example, I<\/strong> killed that deer…<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s our<\/strong> deer, not mine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t feel unfair<\/em> to me — providing for us all feels awesome!<\/strong><\/p>\n

People in wide open nature.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

They certainly hadn\u2019t come up with a narrative like real estate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

PEOPLE<\/em><\/p>\n

Own… the land?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next you\u2019ll say we can own the sea or the stars.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dumbest think I ever heard.<\/p>\n

People camped in winter near volcanic lake.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

That makes sense, as (with rare exceptions) stone-age humans were nomadic.<\/strong> Always on the move, foraging for food within a \u201chome territory\u201d that could be dozens or hundreds of square miles in size (depending on the local terrain).<\/p>\n

CAMPERS<\/em><\/p>\n

Should we move camp with the next sunrise? Or the next season?<\/p>\n

Who can say? Nothing\u2019s written in stone! <\/strong>(Ha ha! Get it?)<\/p>\n

Nope. What\u2019s \u201cwritten?\u201d<\/p>\n

Fishing village huts on stilts.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

(Those who found a spot with plentiful year-round resources might settle down in semi-permanent camps.)<\/p>\n

Map of human migration<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

Bands couldn\u2019t grow much bigger than 150 people.<\/strong> In groups larger than that, we simply can\u2019t know everyone intimately, and cooperation breaks down. At normal population growth rates, a new band would probably bud off every 40 years on average. At that rate, if a new band simply strolled to a new territory just over the horizon, humans could have spread from Sinai to Sichuan<\/strong> in only 10,000 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Which is what we did!<\/p>\n

MULTIPLE MIGRATIONS
There wasn\u2019t one single march across the globe. Several waves eventually filled Europe by about 45,000 years ago.<\/p>\n

OUT OF AFRICA
70,000 – 60,000 years ago (after an ice age peak that nearly wiped us out.)<\/p>\n

FIRST EXPLORERS
crossed to Yemen, and were living in Australia by 50,000 years ago.<\/p>\n

SECOND WAVE
One migration reached the Levant 60,000 years ago, and was populating China by 50,000 years ago.<\/p>\n

TRAFFIC JAM
Impassable glaciers in the Yukon blocked the Americas until a big melt, whereupon we flooded south, reaching the Andes 14,000 years ago.<\/p>\n

INTERBREEDING
Along the way, we mostly displaced the Neanderthals, Denisovans, and other archaic human species. They were all extinct by 45,000 years ago. But they weren\u2019t opposed to having sex with us. Depending on where you\u2019re from, you probably have a little archaic DNA. (But only from archaic males, it seems. Our mitochondrial DNA, inherited from mothers only, is strictly sapiens<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

SIS AND AVERAGE JOE<\/em><\/p>\n

Before we get to how we governed<\/strong> ourselves, a few caveats<\/strong> are in order:<\/p>\n

First, we had no one single<\/strong> way of life.<\/p>\n

Millions of us had filled every environment, throughout every continent except Antarctica.<\/p>\n

Customs may not have varied much from one band to the next, but globally we must have had hundreds<\/strong> of distinct languages and cultures, if not thousands.<\/p>\n

If modern experience is any guide, local norms, narratives, and taboos probably varied more than the geography.<\/p>\n

But we can\u2019t draw too<\/strong> much analogy to modern ways of life. How modern humans think — even modern hunter-gatherers — would be utterly alien<\/strong> to our ancestors in Paleolithic band society.<\/p>\n

We live in a world of our own making, and we\u2019ve been making it very<\/strong> different in the most recent five or ten thousand years.<\/p>\n

And tribal<\/strong> society is one of those recent inventions. Contrary to popular belief, tribal ways are not<\/strong> our default state of nature.<\/p>\n

Mastodon hunters<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

Also, it would be a mistake to paint too<\/strong> rosy a picture. This wasn\u2019t a perfect Eden by any stretch of the imagination.<\/p>\n

SPEARMAN<\/em><\/p>\n

Nature is harsh! Even a minor accident could\u2019ve killed<\/strong> you.<\/p>\n

Plus, everywhere we went, animals rapidly went extinct — it\u2019s estimated that half<\/strong> of all large species died out during this period.<\/p>\n

We either hunted them to extinction, or they couldn\u2019t adapt to the havoc we wreaked on the ecosystem.<\/p>\n

And as for our own<\/strong> handicapped or infirm?<\/p>\n

We weren\u2019t demons. but we weren\u2019t angels, either. We were just human.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MASTODON<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, ignore those little things, dear. I\u2019m sure they\u2019re harmless.<\/strong><\/p>\n

People crossing a creek across a log.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

So how was band society structured?<\/strong><\/p>\n

GIRL<\/em><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Life was fluid,<\/strong> not fixed.<\/p>\n

You could come, you could go…<\/p>\n

You could off in a temporary party, rejoin later…<\/p>\n

Whatever you did, it was up to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Warning label: The Surgeon General has determined that this image may cause diabetes and\/or nausea, and has deleted it in the interests of public health.<\/em><\/p>\n

SPEAKER<\/em><\/p>\n

But that said, the members of a band were generally family<\/strong> members who knew each other intimately.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You spent your life surrounded by people you loved,<\/strong> who loved you,<\/strong> and who were 100%<\/strong> on your team.<\/p>\n

Family hiking, singing \u201cThe Bear Went over the Mountain\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

You were all tightly bonded by a lifetime of shared experiences, shared dangers, shared secrets… walking together, working together, eating together… doing practically everything<\/em> together… It instilled a sense of unity, that you were all one.<\/p>\n

We found solidarity<\/strong> in synchrony.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Teen girls, and teen boys.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

You were family, but not the independent entity we think of as \u201cthe family.\u201d Family, kinship, lineage, bloodline… those were more<\/em> narratives we wouldn\u2019t need to invent for a while.<\/p>\n

Your family was these<\/strong> people — right here, right now.<\/p>\n

TEEN GIRLS<\/em><\/p>\n

And when we girls<\/strong> hit our teens, we get the urge to move out!<\/strong> And find adventure!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

…in a new<\/strong> band!!!<\/p>\n

One where the boys aren\u2019t<\/strong> our brothers?<\/p>\n

If you make a \u201cboy band\u201d joke, so help me…<\/p>\n

TEEN BOYS<\/em><\/p>\n

We boys, on the other hand, tend to stay with the band we\u2019re born<\/strong> into.<\/p>\n

At puberty, our<\/strong> brains dump tons of risk-aversion!<\/p>\n

DAD<\/em><\/p>\n

And good judgment.<\/p>\n

TEEN<\/em><\/p>\n

(Oh hush, Dad) We can\u2019t hide behind Mommy\u2019s skirts any more. We\u2019ll be joining the adults in protecting<\/strong> this band. We gotta start getting some skills!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThree is a magic number\u201d family.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

The modern \u201cnuclear family\u201d wasn\u2019t a natural unit of society. Even marriage<\/strong> wouldn\u2019t be invented for quite some time.<\/p>\n

Instead, our biology seems to be set up for \u201cserial monogamy.\u201d<\/p>\n

MOM<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll probably breastfeed this little girl until she\u2019s around four years old.<\/p>\n

Until then, my hormones will suppress ovulation, so I likely won\u2019t have another baby in the meantime.<\/p>\n

During that time, she\u2019ll be in almost constant contact with another human. If she were to be my herself, her<\/strong> hormones will make her suffer great distress!<\/p>\n

DAD<\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll stay<\/strong> together while she\u2019s a baby.<\/p>\n

My<\/strong> hormones kick in, too, and I\u2019ll have a strong drive to care for them both during these early years.<\/p>\n

Couple waving to small child being welcomed by the whole band.<\/em><\/p>\n

DAD<\/em><\/p>\n

Once kids are no longer toddlers, the whole band<\/strong> shares the job of raising all<\/strong> the children…<\/p>\n

PERSON 1<\/em><\/p>\n

Yeah! It takes a village to raise a child.<\/p>\n

PERSON 2<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s a \u201cvillage\u201d?<\/p>\n

Dad and Mom embracing new partners.<\/em><\/p>\n

DAD<\/em><\/p>\n

…Which is not only great for the kids, but it also frees us to move on to new<\/strong> partners, if we so desire.<\/p>\n

MOM<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s good for genetic diversity<\/strong> in our smallish population!<\/p>\n

(And no pressure to remain in bad relationships? That\u2019s good for everybody else\u2019s sanity<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

[Coincidentally, most divorces nowadays come after 4 years of marriage, and during peak child-bearing years.]<\/p>\n

Couple with \u201cwhat\u2019s wrong with you?\u201d body language.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

But… polygamy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MAN AND WOMAN<\/em><\/p>\n

Pointless!<\/strong><\/p>\n

MAN<\/em><\/p>\n

Care for multiple<\/strong> \u201cwives\u201d and infants at the same time? One is plenty,<\/strong> thanks!<\/p>\n

WOMAN<\/em><\/p>\n

Share<\/strong> a \u201chusband\u201d? So I only get half<\/strong> of his help raising my baby? Are you out of your mind?<\/p>\n

Since everybody shares everything else, it\u2019s not like I\u2019d need to attach myself to a better provider.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And with no social hierarchy,<\/strong> I\u2019m not looking to \u201cmarry up.\u201d<\/p>\n

No \u201cup\u201d to marry into!<\/p>\n

Average Joe<\/em><\/p>\n

JOE<\/em><\/p>\n

Hang on, what was that about \u201cno social hierarchy\u201d?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re still talking about people,<\/strong> right?<\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s an important point: Compared to our modern world, early human society was astonishingly<\/p>\n

EGALITARIAN<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nobody could have had higher rank or privilege.<\/p>\n

No chiefs, no commoners. No wealthy, no workers.<\/p>\n

No priests, peasants, or slaves.<\/p>\n

Man, woman, warrior, elderly person, all equals<\/em><\/p>\n

WARRIOR<\/em><\/p>\n

Rank rankles!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fisherman with string of fish and a shark on the end<\/em><\/p>\n

FISHERMAN<\/em><\/p>\n

I may be the best at catching fish (and telling fish stories), but that doesn\u2019t make me better<\/strong> than anybody else.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stick figures<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

It can be hard for use to think this way now, but being equals couldn\u2019t have been about you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

WOMAN<\/em><\/p>\n

Equality isn\u2019t something I\u2019m<\/strong> entitled to.<\/p>\n

MAN<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not about me<\/strong> deserving the same treatment as her.<\/p>\n

Or opportunities…<\/p>\n

…or outcomes…<\/p>\n

MOM WITH TANTRUM TODDLER<\/em><\/p>\n

Our equality is the absence<\/strong> of entitlements. Each of us has our own<\/strong> free will, our own \u201cagency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giving orders?<\/strong> Or insisting<\/strong> that others treat me a certain way? That would mean putting my<\/strong> interests above their<\/strong> agency.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the opposite<\/strong> of cooperation.<\/p>\n

Not a survival skill.<\/p>\n

More stick figures.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

So they couldn\u2019t have had any conception of individual rights.<\/strong> After all, you don\u2019t need protection<\/strong> from powers-that-be restricting your freedom when such powers don\u2019t exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n

DUDE<\/em><\/p>\n

Nobody has the \u201cright\u201d to free speech. We just speak freely.<\/strong><\/p>\n

CHICK<\/em><\/p>\n

And you\u2019re not entitled<\/strong> to be treated other than how people decide<\/strong> to treat you.<\/p>\n

GUY EATING DRUMSTICK<\/em><\/p>\n

So nobody has the \u201cright\u201d to be given a share of the food. We just, y\u2019know… share.<\/strong><\/p>\n

GUY WITH CLUB<\/em><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t even have a \u201cright\u201d to life. We don\u2019t have<\/strong> to protect you if you give us good reason not<\/strong> to.<\/p>\n

Group of people getting ready to move out.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

When it comes to politics,<\/strong> then, it should be no surprise that important decisions could only have been reached by consensus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As equals, nobody had the power to command<\/strong> you to do anything against your will (and using force to compel<\/em> you would have been intolerably<\/em> uncooperative). Which also means that a democratic majority vote<\/em> could never work! Because that means forcing<\/strong> minority voters to do what the majority wanted. Not an option.<\/p>\n

Politics therefore meant finding solutions that everyone<\/strong> would freely consent<\/strong> to.<\/p>\n

SHRUGGING WOMAN<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cConsent\u201d doesn\u2019t necessarily mean I want<\/strong> to do this. It doesn\u2019t even mean I prefer<\/strong> this option.<\/p>\n

BALD GUY<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t confuse \u201cconsent\u201d with \u201caffirmative agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

GIRL HEFTING A SACK<\/em><\/p>\n

All it means is we don\u2019t actively oppose<\/strong> the idea.<\/p>\n

oof!<\/p>\n

SPEAR GUY<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the difference between saying \u201cfine… whatever…\u201d and \u201check yeah!<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

WALKING WOMAN<\/em><\/p>\n

Sure, I may feel social pressure<\/strong> to go along with the decision.<\/p>\n

But what I do is still up to me.<\/strong> Nobody took away my freedom to say \u201cno.\u201d Nobody forced me to come along against my will.<\/p>\n

All right, let\u2019s get a move on.<\/p>\n

New band budding off<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

If a disagreement was big enough, nobody was stopping your side from splitting off and going your own way as a new <\/strong>band.<\/p>\n

BUDDER<\/em><\/p>\n

No hard feelings!<\/p>\n

ORIGINALS<\/em><\/p>\n

Of course not!<\/p>\n

It\u2019d take more than this<\/strong> to undo a lifetime of love and affection.<\/p>\n

Not to mention, it\u2019s hard for conflict to escalate when you can move away<\/strong> instead.<\/p>\n

Traders on a boat visiting people by a river.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

As equals, you\u2019d expect that every adult would have had an equal voice<\/strong> in group decisions.<\/p>\n

RED<\/em><\/p>\n

Hey, if I have to live with the consequences,<\/strong> then you\u2019re damn right<\/strong> I\u2019ve got a say in what happens!<\/p>\n

BEARDO<\/em><\/p>\n

That goes without saying.<\/p>\n

TRADERS<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m only here to trade<\/strong> with your band (check out these shells!) but I<\/strong> say you ought to-<\/p>\n

SASS<\/em><\/p>\n

No offense, but who asked you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SKEPTIC<\/em><\/p>\n

No skin in our game? No say in how we play it.<\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

[Being self-sufficient and all that, trade between bands would have been minimal. But there\u2019s evidence that tools, weapons, and trinkets got traded across long distances.]<\/p>\n

Hunters driving caribou off a cliff into waiting archers.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em><\/p>\n

Cooperation<\/strong> between bands was probably routine, albeit temporary.<\/p>\n

HUNTERS<\/em><\/p>\n

We can go a while without seeing anyone but our own band, but we can usually rely<\/strong> on our neighbors if need be.<\/p>\n

ARCHER<\/em><\/p>\n

Um, whose idea was it to stand here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

TOOLMAKER 1<\/em><\/p>\n

They are<\/strong> our friends and cousins. Their women are our daughters and sisters.<\/p>\n

We face similar challenges, share similar cultures.<\/p>\n

TOOLMAKER 2<\/em><\/p>\n

So we can double or triple our numbers for a common purpose,<\/strong> like a big hunt or celebration.<\/p>\n

But large numbers of people are unwieldy.<\/p>\n

Once we\u2019ve done what we joined up to do, we\u2019ll dis-<\/strong>band back into our self-sufficient, self-regulating<\/strong> bands.<\/p>\n

Joe and Sis<\/em><\/p>\n

JOE<\/em><\/p>\n

What did it mean to be \u201cself-regulating\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

And how did bands do it, without<\/strong> government?<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>Transcript<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,35,58,1,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-brief-history-of-government","category-constitutional-law","category-the-cognitive-revolution","category-uncategorized","category-what-were-they-thinking"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}