Primal State
“…the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”-Thomas Hobbes. My thoughts on “Primal State” all stem from this painfully harsh truth, first brought to public eye with the publication of Thomas Hobbes’ “Leviathan,” a truth that man as a whole has tried to escape for centuries. Man has linked all corners of the earth in some way or another but there is no doubt “solitary” can still be used to describe many regions of the globe. I believe, to an extent, that man needs solitude to strive. Though it may be true that co-operation is clearly important to the survival of man, if each individual man has nothing to offer the team would achieve nothing more than the speed of extra hands. In order to better understand this concept think of it in this way. There are 5 people placed in a wilderness, pitted against Mother Nature, and another group, this one consisting of just 2 members, is placed under the same conditions, you would think the group of 5 would have a better chance of survival. Now suppose that the smaller group members were forced to be skilled in hunting and gathering and creating shelter. Being in solitude so long gave the group members a chance to refine their skills and with their brains under constant tension, always trying to figure something out, it becomes more refined and intelligence can mature. Now say all 5 of the group originally thought to be superior have no knowledge of outdoor life whatsoever. In this case the smaller group of 2 may not be able to achieve as much in as little time but it will be able to share knowledge and be more proficient and effective, making them the safer bet for survival. For example a shelter created skillfully may last for many days, weeks, even months without repair while shelters built unskillfully may need regular, even daily maintenance, distracting the group from other important tasks and holding back the evolution of technology. Or say for instance a hunter kills a black bear and...