Reply #14: Stone Age peoples weren't individualists

[amazona]

They were societies. One person can't reasonably be expected to do everything from building fires, tracking down the beasts, knowing every possible herb for medicine, building shelter, and so on in true Stone Age fashion. However, I see no reason why a person who was unconcerned with being a purist and who wasn't afraid to use modern technology strategically couldn't do OK for themselves. My friend who lived off the land that I cited in a previous post had a goal of only eating foods that he found or hunted in the wild, and at that he succeeeded for a year, although he claimed to have lost 30 pounds. However, he was not trying to simultaneously build his own shelter, nor was he shy about purchasing rather than somehow crafting his clothes. Part of the time he was even receiving a small payment in connection with a study he was doing, so he did not fully step outside of the money system. I think an individual can have a goal, such as food self-sufficiency, and significantly cut down on their expenses and their need for a conventional job -- yet they need not completely return to the cave.