#queue this
look: our neanderthal ancestors took care of the sick and disabled so if ur post-apocalyptic scenario is an excuse for eugenics, u are a bad person and literally have less compassion than a caveman
Yes but they also when extinct which implies whatever they were doing at the time wasn’t fit for their environment.
So, it’s been awhile since I took a human evolution course, so some of this might be a little out of date, but
1) Whether or not Neanderthals went extinct is still kind of up for debate, and seems to hinge largely on whether you think that Neanderthals are a H. Sapiens subspecies or not, which often seems like a mildly pointless argument to me since it’s largely a fight about which definition of “species” to use
2) Even if we argue that Neanderthals are our direct ancestors and never went extinct, several Neanderthal *traits* (like their noses and their forheads) *have* left the population. Care for the disabled is not one of them.
Saying “Neanderthals cared for their sick and injured and are now extinct, therefore care for the disabled is maladaptive” is like saying “Dodos are extinct therefore beaks are a terrible idea”
Statements about “less compassion than a caveman” still stand.
–Peter
Iteach human evolution to college students, so in addition to that, here’s what we know. There’s some citations (and footnotes) behind the cut, if you’re interested.
So Neanderthals aren’t our direct ancestor- more like a branch of the family tree that didn’t lead to us. Close cousins- close enough to breed- but they evolved outside of Africa about 400kya, while our species evolved in Africa about 200kya*. This is important because it means that altruism can’t possibly be a Neanderthal trait that left the population during the evolution into modern humans; we didn’t evolve from them, so it’s not like we can say “well, this was maladaptive in our ancestors.” This is a behavior you see in two temporally coexisting species (or subspecies), and I do mean two, because it wasn’t just Neanderthals practicing altruism. We did it too.
We have really good evidence that early Homo sapiens sapiens (i.e.,us, just old) also took care of their injured, elderly, and disabled. At Cro-Magnon in France, a few individuals clearly suffered from traumatic injury and illness during their lives. Cro-Magnon 1 had a nasty infection in his face; his bones are pitted from it. Cro-Magnon 2, a female, had a partially healed skull fracture, and several of the others had fused neck vertebrae that had fused as a result of healed trauma; this kind of injury would make it impossible to hunt and uncomfortable to move. This kind of injury can be hard to survive today, even with modern medical care; the fact that the individuals at Cro-Magnon survived long enough for the bones to remodel and heal indicate that somebody was taking care of them. At Xujiayao, in northern China, there’s evidence of healed skull fractures (which would have had a rather long recovery time and needed care);
This evidence of altruism extends past injured adults, as well. One of the most compelling cases is at Qafzeh, which is in Israel. Here we see evidence of long-term care for a developmentally disabled child (as well as a child who had hydrocephaly and survived). Qafzeh 11, a 12-13 year old at time of death, suffered severe brain damage as a child. Endocasts (basically making a model of the inside of the skull, where the brain would be) show that the volume of the brain was much smaller than expected; likely the result of a growth delay due to traumatic brain injury. The patterns of development suggest that this injury occurred between the ages of 4 and 6. They very likely suffered from serious neurological problems; the areas of the brain that were injured are known to control psychomotricity. This means that the kid may have had a hard time controlling their eye movements, general body movement, keeping visual attention, performing specific tasks, and managing uncertainty; in addition, Broca’s area might also have been damaged, which likely would have affected the kid’s ability to speak. Long and short of it, without help, this kid wouldn’t have survived to age 12-13.
But they did. They lived, and they were loved. When they died, they were given a funeral- we know this based on body position and funeral offerings. Mortuary behavior was common among both Neanderthals and archaic Homo sapiens, and this burial was particularly interesting. The body was placed on its back, its legs extended and the arms crossed over the chest. Deer antlers were laid on the upper part of the chest; in the archaeological context, they were in close contact with the palmar side of the hand bones, meaning it’s likely that they were placed in the hands before burial. This points to Qafzeh 11 being valued by the community- why go to the effort for somebody you don’t care about? Compassion is a very human trait, and to call it maladaptive is to ignore hundreds of thousands of years of human experience.
“Compassion is a very human trait, and to call it maladaptive is to ignore hundreds of thousands of years of human experience.”
Would you be alright with me borrowing your words when someone poses the above comments’ line of thought to me?
Of course! (And feel free to use anything else in my anthropology tag.)
Compassion is a very human trait, and to call it maladaptive is to ignore hundreds of thousands of years of human experience.
Wine is slutty drunk and bourbon is cozy drunk
Wine: Full of Dionysus. Lascivious. Hedonistic.
Bourbon: Full of Demeter. Nourishing. Inevitable.
Bourbon: This brown liquid will fix me
Wine: it is SOCIETY that needs to be fixed
Vodka: Full of Hermes. Both Slutty and Cozy. Contains Multitudes.
Tequila: Full of Ares. Feisty. Homoerotic.
Gin: Full of Hera: Impulsive. Tender, yet imperious.
I’m a pacifist like institutionally but I’m absolutely certain that violence solves at least some problems on a much smaller level. I don’t believe in wars or nuclear weapons or military campaigns I do believe in the power of that guy who punched the nazi in the face so hard his entire media presence immediately crumbled to dust
<3
Is the “fluffy one shot” pig doing whip its with those cans? Cause that feels accurate.
@skyholdherbalist Yup! XD
Then… where do I go? I’m just at home muttering
into the void of an open word document.
@valkyrien Oh but there’s more to this party than sugar and sweets~ ♥︎
Fluff Fest on RedBubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/kitten-kin/works/36582633
Dark Side on RedBubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/kitten-kin/works/36634358
THE PIG IS EATING PINE TREES IN THE PINING I CAN NOT DEAL.
IT GOT BETTER
Where’s the lemon buffet
Third Comic, featuring the citrus-themed juice bar~ @alltheusernameiwantistaken
Available on RedBubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/kitten-kin/works/37192337.
Mess. Me. Up.
@kitten-kin wins everything!!! Woohooo!!
Hello! We’ve been having some radio silence because this week has been A Lot for both of us so far, and it looks to continue that way! However! That’s not going to stop us from getting things to your stitching fingers. We only have two releases this week since we dropped Friday’s pattern with it. Everything is pay what you can/what you want as per usual and this week we have:
Pasta
Tradition
Which can be found here.
Happy stitching!
Liam wins
Liam said trans rights
Knowing a fic author through AO3 is like attending someone’s thesis presentation and politely clapping at the end, knowing a fic author through this hellsite is like going over to their house at 3AM to watch them eat mayonnaise out of a jar
the impulse to just make weird noises for no reason is something i have to ignore like 24/7
Thought it was just me
microwave: mmmmmm
me and my friends, in perfect unison, loudly: mmmmmmmmmmmmm
concept: woman makes deal with demon to have it’s child in exchange for eternal life or some shit
woman then makes deal with witch and offers her first born for like, riches or something
woman dumps demon baby on witch, absconds with her winnings and leaves witch and demon fighting for custody
half demon baby grows up learning magic and visiting hell on weekends and every second christmas
does the woman act as a sort of vodka aunt who shows up sometimes to teach the child how to work the system?
“here you go timmy, have a new xbox. this year I’m going to teach you the ins and outs of magical tax evasion”
SHE DOES NOW
Giving someone six geese (a-laying, and thus in full protect-the-nest mode), much less SEVEN SWANS, does not seem to me, to be, per se, an act of true love
my main criticism of solarpunk is why isn’t it happening
it absolutely is and here’s the wiki we’re building
what exists in terms of community developed sustainable technology
but like any revolutionary social movement it requires active involvement to achieve the change you want to see. Here are some handy resources for getting more involved:
Food Not Lawns- project to help communities feed themselves without capitalism
Food Not Bombs - same idea as above but less emphasis on growing food
The Buy Nothing Project - community resource pooling to combat consumerism
Demand Utopia- Rojava solidarity & social ecology activism - speaking of which, The Internationalist Commune of Rojava have their Make Rojava Green Againproject.
Also, if you want your solarpunk social media then start looking to the decentralised non corporate sunbeam city mastodon instance (blend of tumblr and twitter without your data being sold) where you’ll find shit tonnes of information on making food, growing things, building sustainable technology yourself etc being shared - like this $3 DIY solarpowered USB chargerorthis $30 wind turbine made largely from salvaged parts.
In terms of building online infrastructure to actively combat capitalism, using and helping to develop open-source, community run software & websites like the sunbeam city mastodon instance should be a priority. This is a good alternative to google for searching.
In terms of building real world solarpunk infrastructure as resistance to actively combat capitalism, the organisations linked above are honestly invaluable - especially Food Not Bombs. I’d also add the Industrial Workers of the World (a democratic workers’ union for anyone in the world without hiring/firing power) as well as tenants’ unions - like ACORN in the UK. Finally, find or start a community garden.
It wasn’t until recently that I realized not many people these days know about the Freecycle Network but it’s totally a thing and you should totally know about it.
Finally details for a windmill
no, listen, when I say I want to integrate more specific solarpunk stuff in my life, i don’t mean to ask for yet again new “aesthetic” clothes that now you have to buy or make to show your support of the movement (screw that i’m consuming enough as it is), or more posts about impossible house goals, or whatever, I’m asking you what my options to build a portable and eco friendly phone charger are, im asking you viable tiny-appartment edible plants growing tricks on a budget, im asking tips to slow down when my mind and society tell me im not fast enough, i don’t need more rich art nouveau amateurs aesthetics or pristine but cold venus project, okay, i know i should joins associations where I am tho i’m constantly on the move, thanks for that, just, you know, can we get a bit more practical ??? how do I hack my temporary flat into going off the grid for the time i’m here
Hello! ☀️ Here are a few practical suggestions for stuff you can do:
- Make a bottle tower garden (a small one could do well on a windowsill)
- Make eco-friendly household cleaners
- Germinate strawberry seedsandcare for the plants
- Grow plants from cuttings (you can grow almost anything this way)
- Make a sun jar
- Grow low maintenance houseplants
- Make a string garden
- Make a wall planter
- Germinate an avocado seed
- Make a shoe pocket garden
- Build a mini solar generator
- Re-grow kitchen scraps
- Find the right solar battery charger
- Recycle old solar cells
Hope you find something useful in there! I post stuff up from time to time under my diy tag. Feel free to drop me a message if you have any requests!
- grow oyster mushrooms on waste coffee grounds (also works with shiitake)
- a list of some food plants that can grow indoors with reduced light
- windowsill herbs
- egg carton seed germination
- germinate chayoteandkeep it as a houseplant (the root, stem, leaves, fruit, and seed are all edible)
- choosing a portable solar panel
- tips for energy efficient apartment life (but jsyk LED is better than CFL, and a tank bank or expanding water bottle is better than a brick or bottle of gravel)
- DIY draft stoppers
- DIY solar ovenandrecipes
- evaporative refrigeration
- use conkers/horse chestnuts to replace soap and detergents
- use baking soda as dry shampoo
- cleaning with vinegar do’s & don’tsandcommon myths
- DIY dryer balls
- apartment-friendlybokashi compostingandDIY bokashi bran
- DIY moss terrarium for your soul (ain’t many souls slower or more patient than moss)
- and a list of some easy care indoor plants for your nerves
- and for your bathroomandyour air quality
- recycle t-shirts into yarn for your crafts