From: jimruttshow8596
The discussion explores the profound impact of modern civilization on indigenous knowledge systems, contrasting their fundamental paradigms and highlighting areas where modern approaches diverge from or hinder traditional ways of knowing and living.
Redefining “Civilization”
Tyson Yunkaporta, an academic and member of the Apalech Clan of Australian Aboriginal people, challenges the conventional positive connotation of “civilization” [00:14:10]. He defines civilization as a community that “must be constantly growing or it will collapse,” thereby relying on the continuous “importation of resources” [00:15:10]. This “growth-based imperative” is criticized as a “denial of reality,” “physics,” and “everything” [00:15:31].
In contrast, Aboriginal societies operate on an “increase paradigm,” focusing on the increase of relationships and exchange within a system rather than its physical size [00:16:17]. This is akin to the brain making more neural connections to get smarter, rather than growing a bigger brain [00:17:10].
Indigenous cultures, particularly Aboriginal ones, typically did not develop cities [00:18:57]. Instead, they managed large estates defined by bioregions, moving seasonally to care for different parts of the country [00:19:04]. An experiment by the Barka G mob with a sedentary lifestyle resulted in near-wipeout when the earth moved, leading to a cultural story that preserved the importance of mobility [00:19:34].
Indigenous Lens on Reality
Yunkaporta’s book, “Sand Talk,” employs an indigenous lens to analyze the wider world [00:02:18], describing it as “reverse anthropology” [00:04:45]. This perspective often aligns with complexity theory [00:02:30].
A key metaphor used to illustrate this lens involves two hands: a closed hand representing the Western, book-like view, and an open, spread hand representing the indigenous view [00:04:09]. While the open hand (indigenous knowledge) is often viewed through the closed hand (Western lens), turning it around to view the closed hand through the open hand provides “a lot more clarity and interesting perspective” [00:04:31].
Language and Cognition
Indigenous languages are described as deeply “embedded in the landscape” and perfectly suited to describe their bioregions [00:28:37]. This contrasts with Western languages, like English, which are famously “poor in its pronouns” [00:29:18]. Indigenous languages, such as Yunkaporta’s, feature complex collective pronouns that convey social roles and relationships, lining up with the “operating protocols for an agent in a complex adaptive system” [00:28:12].
Research now suggests that language and culture significantly affect cognition, influencing how people sequence things, focus attention, and process information [00:30:55]. Indigenous cultures and non-Western languages tend to focus on the “context first” (e.g., the entire scene) before noticing foreground figures [00:31:16], a “more contextual place-based cognition” [00:33:08]. This is distinct from the “field-independent cognition” prevalent in European societies [00:33:14].
Preserving Ancient Knowledge
Aboriginal oral histories contain “maps” of land now submerged due to post-ice-age inundations, demonstrating a profound connection to and knowledge of environments spanning thousands of years [00:21:50]. This deep connection extends to interactions with wildlife, as evidenced by traditions of calling dolphins to help with fishing [00:22:27].
Critiques of Modern Civilization’s Values
Simplicity vs. Complexity and Narcissism
Modern civilization is characterized by a “demand that simplicity and order be imposed upon the complexity of creation” [00:47:56]. This pursuit of uniformity and monocultures is linked to “an ancient seed of narcissism” [00:48:16]. Indigenous cultures, conversely, are designed to hold narcissism in check, recognizing that everyone can be narcissistic at times [00:48:54]. The belief “I am greater than” leads to societal breakdown, damaged ecologies, and a rise in “defectors and … freeloaders and … sociopaths and predators” [00:49:12].
Indigenous wisdom keepers (elders) will withdraw from conversations if they sense narcissism, highlighting a cultural mechanism for managing this trait [00:52:22]. Rites of passage in Aboriginal culture, particularly around age 14-15, serve to impart the crucial lesson: “I’m not special” [00:54:58]. This understanding then leads to the realization that “no one else is special either,” fostering a sense of belonging to “something special” collectively – a “custodial species” [00:54:58].
Justice and Social Stigma
The Western justice system, particularly its permanent recording of criminal records, is criticized for permanently stigmatizing individuals even after they have served their punishment [00:58:50]. In indigenous cultures, once a punishment or “ordeal” is completed, the “crime’s done,” and it “doesn’t carry … in your reputation forever” [00:53:27], allowing for true transformation and reintegration.
Safety vs. Protection
Modern society’s “obsession with safety and security” is highlighted, particularly the “new idea” that safety is a “human right” [01:01:51]. Aboriginal languages do not have a word for “safety” but do have words for “protection” [01:02:26]. Protection inherently implies “agency,” meaning individuals are responsible for their own protection and the “active protection” of those around them [01:02:38]. This contrasts with the monopolization of violence and protection by a few hands in modern societies, leading to negative consequences when this centralized system fails [01:03:18].
Violence and Over-domestication
The suppression of natural human tendencies, such as play-fighting among young males, is detrimental [01:05:07]. In traditional contexts, fighting was often rule-governed and public, serving as a healthy “expression” for negative emotions and ensuring “horrendous damage” was avoided [01:08:56]. The lack of cultural “codes of conflict” in modern schools leads to more severe violence when it erupts [01:06:44].
Furthermore, civilization has led to an “overly domesticated” state for humans, particularly women, who in many civilized societies were historically “completely confined and disempowered” [01:13:50], leading to a “weakened state” [01:13:25]. This domestication means individuals become “utterly dependent on civilization” [01:14:44]. The concept of “fight or flight” is described as a “myth of primitivism” projected onto the Paleolithic past; indigenous people, being integral parts of their landscape, are “never surprised by a tiger” or a crocodile [01:15:22], indicating a deeper relational way of being.
Cognitive Impact
The impact of technology on indigenous communities is mixed. While the adoption of mobile phones significantly improved adult literacy in some areas [01:11:00], the speaker notes how personal use of a smartphone “messed with my cognition horrendously” and altered connections to the world [01:11:30].
It is also posited that modern, domesticated humans may have less brain capacity or fewer neural connections utilized compared to Paleolithic ancestors [01:19:15]. Modern education, described as a “sausage factory,” is seen as damaging to the young brain, contributing to this self-domestication [01:21:05].
The Yarning Modality
The “yarn” is presented as a crucial modality for knowledge acquisition and consensus-building in indigenous cultures [01:22:58]. Unlike linear, hierarchical Western debates, a yarn involves an “aggregate of stories” where “every different story, every person’s story must be heard” [01:23:04]. The “truth lies in that aggregate of all those stories,” including outliers that deviate from consensus [01:23:41].
Yarning is a dynamic, often ritualized conversation, involving overlapping narratives, acting things out, and drawing [01:24:00]. The goal is to arrive at a “loose consensus of what the reality is” to make accurate predictions and plans [01:24:10]. This contrasts sharply with modern “talking circles” where individuals take turns speaking without true dynamic interaction, effectively turning a circle into a queue [01:25:39].
The “wisdom of your group, the knowledge of your group … doesn’t sit with any individual; it’s held by the entire group” [01:28:42]. Many find indigenous ways familiar because they tap into “human baseline” or “factory settings” [01:30:17]. Indigenous wisdom, it is suggested, can be found by “mining the margins” of current civilization, looking within oneself for “fragments” that contain the “pattern of the whole” [01:30:57]. This perspective offers a path to building a new civilization that incorporates “more of these deep, real human things” [01:31:54], crucial for addressing civilizational collapse and sustainability.