While I am an advocate for all things “natural,” I also am an advocate for thinking – using the brain.
A friend recently sent me the link to the site “Hunter-Gatherer.com.” I’m not providing a hot-link to you, because it’s a front-site, with a signup form if you’re “interested.” Put your email in the box and hit send, and Hunter-Gatherer will inform you when there’s something happening there.
The site was setup by John Durant, a 26-year old internet marketing professional.
Grog like SEO! Grog like Stumbleupon! Grog like Affiliate Marketing!
What Is This Paleo Stuff All About?
The “paleo” movement basically states that our species, homo sapiens, has not evolved very much over the past 200,000 years, since it branched off the tree of Homo (that sounds silly! tee hee!).
Anyway, these folks say that the diseases of modern civilization arise largely from us acting like a bunch of fat agriculturalists – eating too many and the wrong kinds of calories, not moving/exercising enough (and sucking at it when we do), and basically being too smart to realize how dumb we are.
This movement has been around for a long long time. Roughly 35 years now. It’s not new.
Not only is it not new. It’s not hard to understand. You can get any of a number of books on Amazon.com, used, for less than the price of your non-paleo mocha latte. If you want.
You can erect my homo anytime...wait...what? I mean, "Ug."
The Caveman Speaks!
You can watch John on the Colbert Report – here.
If you don’t have the time, let me sum it up for you – John says that “human beings have been around for a half or a million years in our current form,” (Which is technically incorrect. Homo Sapiens, which is what we are, is about 200,000 years old) and that it would behoove us to eat and move like we did during that part of our evolutionary history.
John also says that hunter gatherer societies live(d) to about the same ages that we do now. From everything I’ve ever read, this is completely untrue. Average maximum lifespan is usually listed between 35-55 years in anything I’ve read about pre-agricultural humans.
Further, life expectancy increased significantly after the advent of agriculture. Maximum lifespan increased significantly again after the advent of modern medicine.
Apparently, John has taken some notes from Art DeVany, an economist-turned-physiology-expert, who runs his own “paleo” blog and internet business. DeVany chapped my ass a few years ago when I posted a question about one of his (then free-to-all) workouts, and the rationale behind his set/rep scheme. He didn’t publish the post. I deleted his blog from my roll.
Wherefore Art Thou, Customer?
Internet marketers are savvy. They will often put up a “test” website (such as John’s) with a signup form (such as John’s) to see what size audience they can get, before investing time, money, and effort in building an actual site.
They also jump on popular bandwagons. I’m not saying that John Durant doesn’t live, eat, and breathe Paleo. I believe that he does. I’m just saying that this Caveman is no dummy. He’s a smart Caveman. He’s a Caveman with internet access. He’s a Caveman with deer in his apartment.
Beatrice de Gea's photo of John from the NYT article
What Do You Care, Josh?
I don’t care that much. I actually think it’s pretty cool. But I’d really like for people to be well-informed about this stuff, and be listening to people who know what they’re talking about, rather than internet marketers with a caveman fetish, or retired economics professors who like to boost their testosterone levels a lot.
The caveman thing, like all things, will come and go. In the meantime, many people will get caught up in the wave, and ride the diet rollercoaster for a while, messing their physiology up so bad that they’ll actually shave years off in the long run. But as long as it’s a fun ride, that’s all that matters!
Which reveals something about human nature. And about why you like to buy things.
Why You Like to Buy Things
Virginia Satir is said to have said (you like that?) – “The most basic instinct of human beings is not the instinct for survival, but the need to experience the familiar.”
Maybe she’s right. Maybe not.
But right around the same level of that instinct is the need for the unfamiliar. Human beings have a desperate, unquenchable thirst for what is novel. It’s like a drug. Start showing people one new thing, and they want another, then another, and then another…
This is your brain on advertising
The Bottom Line
Be critical. Death is lurking. In fact, you might die right now. I hope not, but you might!
If you are a caveman, or follow a caveman lifestyle, you might live longer. Maybe. Or you might not. The hope of longer life may be part of what John is selling to you. That and novelty. And “happiness.” The old hag in a new dress.
It’s catching, this “paleo” thing. I don’t think it’s entirely wrong, or misguided, but I want you to be sure that it is being sold to you.
The line just above the death one, the penultimate line, is your physiology – the way the human body functions. Knowing more about that is useful knowledge. Then you have a solid baseline by which to judge any diet, any exercise routine, or anything else in your life.
Beyond that, the Caveman movement should be seen for what it is – fun. It’s just play. Play Caveman if you want.
I’ll play Dinosaur, and come to your cave and eat your head.
GRRR!! Now THIS IS REAL!! GRRRR!! snarfsnarf