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UncleNasty -> RE: Primitive vs. Modern (11/15/2008 1:56:54 PM)
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I worked as a wilderness guide/therapsist for several years and lived a very primitve exisitence during that time. Not completely, but very. Most of our tools, clothing and supplies were provided via technology (Goretex, fleece, capilene, boots, tents and sleeping bags, cooking pots, food, etc.). We did live in the primitive environments with out heat, running water, electricity etc. Our meals were cooked over open flame and we gathered wood and built fires daily. I expect it was closer to a pioneer or primitve life than most in the states ever see. And yes, I lived this way 10 - 11 months out of the year.
I prefered it. For so many reasons and on so many levels. But the umbillical to "the world" was never completely cut.
I did some gathering of wild plants for food, and did from time to time fish or trap small game (snails are pretty easy to catch, LOL, and escargot was not uncommon) but these things were for me only, and because I had other primary duties besides gathering or hunting such was only a supplement. It would have opened up too much liability if I had shared them with my clients. There are programs that do such, teach survival skills to that level, but I never worked for one.
That is a small view of some of my experiences. To answer more directly the OP question, passing judgment on whether our advancement and reliance on technology is good or bad is moot. The reality is what it is. Overall I just see it as a double edged sword - it cuts both the meat we eat and us.
Alvin Toffler wrote at length about this very issue in his book titled "Future Shock." He likened the experience of culture shock, where one travels to another country or culture and is so out of touch as to be in shock, to the pace at which change occurs in our lives being so fast that we are in a kind of shock from the future itself.
Uncle Nasty
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