最近从图书馆借了这本the dawn of everything ( https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Everything-New-History-Humanity/dp/0374157359 ) , 听到一半, 大概12小时的时候就到期了,接着排上队。
这本对我来说, 因为背景知识积累不够, 一路听下来有些生涩, 但挺涨见识的。 俩位作者, 一个是考古学家, 一个是人类学家. 随手记下几条印象深刻的小花絮。
1. Dunbar's number
当代提出来的Dunbar's number有这么几个数据: best friends不超过5个, good friends不超过15个, friends不超过30个, acquaintances不超过150个。
考古学发现: 在史前时代, hunter and gatherer村庄和部落大概就150人为单位, 給我一个Aha moment, 跟几年前读到的Dunbar's number一样啊。
2) 更让人吃惊的是, 这本书说, 在史前时代的部落里, 大多数部落成员并不是家人,不少是逃离父母家庭的个体。 所以family dynamics 在远古就存在。 血缘带来的不一定就是亲近。
与其用亲情用责任捆绑,那还不如懂得放手。 最反感我们传统文化里的“孝道”一词,而不懂得去“爱”去“给与”。
3) 史前时代并不是我们想当然以为的那么primitive.
这本书里有大量的考古学论据, 比如在北美西海岸地区史前时代就有奴隶制, 并不是我们以为的必然的egalitarian society. 比如有些史前原始部落会在平等和不平等的制度之间根据季节而互相转化
在别的书里读过这句话: “Every generation thought they invented war and sex”
而这本书一开头就给出了立意:
“We are projects of collective self-creation. What if we approached human history that way? What if we treat people, from the beginning, as imaginative, intelligent, playful creatures who deserve to be understood as such? What if, instead of telling a story about how our species fell from some idyllic state of equality, we ask how we came to be trapped in such tight conceptual shackles that we can no longer even imagine the possibility of reinventing ourselves?”
4)作者的这个TED talk 挺有个人观点的:
A New Understanding of Human History and the Roots of Inequality | David Wengrow | TED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SJi0sHrEI4