ANTH 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Australopithecus, Bipedalism, Neophobia
Document Summary
What is the omnivore"s dilemma : the fact that humans can eat a wide range of foods but do not know instinctively what is good or safe to eat. Big gut + big brain solutions to the food quest: koalas vs pigs: big gut strategy: digestion system > mind, big brain strategy: mind > digestion system. The 2 drives: neophilia + neophobia: neophilia- want to try new things, neophobia- fear of trying new things. Plant + animal defenses: taste: sweet and bitter, disgust as an adaptive reflex. Unintended consequences: biological changes, migration into many ecological niches, (re)thinking in terms of co-evolution. 2 main sources: physical evidence, evidence from contemporary foraging people. How cultural orientations of the present shape understandings of the past (and unfamiliar cultures) The persistence of origin stories in western culture: hobbes vs rousseau- Assumptions of the inevitability of historical change (progressive evolution)
