Who are we, where did we come from, what sorts of limits do we set to our power over Nature , and Nature’s power over us? What are our goals for surviving as a species of homo sapiens on earth? What problems present themselves that give every human being, that is born, the right to be here?
When we look at these Anthropological questions Who are we? Where do come from, Theology, Philosophy, Biology, Neuro-Science, and Ecological systems, and Archaeology, and Anthropological studies emerge. Studying evidence provided by fossil bones and paleontology the study of material remains of cultures of the distant past gives us all a Prehistoric Archaeology picture that emerges. The study of methodical technological discoveries interpret our human biological and cultural evidence. We are not naked apes led by just instincts and further we all belong to the same biological group. There are no other human races. Since the appearance of our sub species a cultural take off occured and cultural evolution is not any longer tied to characteristics of the brain or any part of the body. Prehistory is an important information to look at. Discovering Natural Laws that govern our cultural changes, such as water availability, greenery, soils that are healthy, oceans that thrive with life, and warmth are issues of Nature that contribute to changes in our species and cultural revolutions. We today in 2024, have evidence of biological and cultural evolution. There are problems such as Racism being conquered by Laws that determine you cannot be Racist in our stratified societies today. The explanations for the diversity of human biology and basic cultural ecological concerns drive our information of Evolution and evidence, and evidence that we are all one species has emerged. The study of old stones, and old bones is extremely relevant to understanding our present and our future.
Most claims of “progress” are demonstrably false. Just for an example from an Ecological Perspective Industrial Technology is not a progress from disaster. Another disaster would be that Canadians call Democracy a terrible loss of freedom when compared to the standards of egalitarian societies. Our environment in Canada is not the same as the “Sharanahua” that are surrounded by tropical rain-forests, so we call our studies, the study of ecosystems. Man and woman are a name of a species, categorically speaking, not false beliefs. White man is a false notion and worse than Racism, and it is a false Racist comment. Be precise when talking about a culture. The people from this nation did this and that Nation did that. Ecologists study eco systems. There are absurd terms today that do not apply to reality. Modern societies do apply to a number of stratified societies. When you are tempted to use wrong terminology, and mean to refer to stratified Industrial Societies, such as Canada or the USA, we must say so in terms that are acceptable to reality, the technological extremes are more damaging than good for these countries, in fact many technologies today in 2025, are destroying many things in our culture we hold dear, like spirit for example. Did you know Spirit is causing people to kill each other, because of false ideologies? Technology proves that. Using food as a way for people to control, is another technological falsity of advancement. Robots replacing human kind is another falsity of advancement of human kind and their technology. Shortage of money because of Oligarchs claiming all the money as theirs earned, is another falsity of advancement of technologies, and a damaging false assumption. Economic systems that control our children, is another falsity of advancement of technology with damaging false beliefs inserted. Economic systems that control our population’s elections is another false advancement of technologies that are with damaging falsities inserted in democracies. What some call technological advancement has destroyed our Values, our morals, our ethics, our families. Technology has destroyed family, from living reality vs living fantasy and wishful thinking and push workers to extremes for slave wagers and inflation to extremes, along with false types of asserted promises of politicians with extreme sides. What is advancement, and what is expansion? What is technology advancement proposing. Extinction of human beings? Hardly advancement.
The existence of Stratified Societies that are Industrial is the job of Anthropology when looking at comprehensive and comparative studies of our past and present realities of societies and cultural presentings along with human populations around our planet, and all our origins on Mother Earth. There is existing data of biological anthropology, and Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology, and Anthropological linguistics, describing the origins and cultures of all human societies, and this is to explain similarities and differences between us. And how do we learn to exist together if we do not understand these similarities and differences. In having collections of facts from past and present we are able to make generalizations about human kind on a greater scope than just our own society. There is also the validity of other Scientists that do not have the diversity of Societies and cultures that Democracies do.
When you look at Archaeology vs Scientists that look at Anthropology of Biology, there are great differences in time frames as the Archaeology looks way back at Historical facts. Historians for example confine their studies to about 4000 years vs Archaeology that deals with millions of years. After reflection of this fact, you will see because of the extension of time, Anthropologists have the benefit of knowing the ultimate results of many successive solutions, which people have used to solve their problems over many millennia. Some solutions more successful than others. The better we know the past, the lest we have a chance of repeating the mistakes made by some. Anthropology is not saying it is a better Science but that it’s scope is different than other Sciences. Most Anthropologists have been trained to look at the habits of other societies to analyze the social organization of the peoples and their solutions. The study of many societies over the millennia have led to many solutions and adaptive behaviours of analyzing cultural behaviours, and sets of patterns, thoughts, and feelings that are acquired through symbolic learning (language) and are characteristic of a group of people rather than the individual. A culture is the socially acquired lifestyle of a group of peoples. The term society refers to a group of people including people of sexes and at least three generations who share institutions and are dependent upon each other for their survival and reproductive well being. Kinship ties, and economic institutions, and policies and common language tie groups together such as the Sharanahua Indians. Food supply and medical help and other goods and services are essential to maintain the health and welfare of the well being of a population living in a society. Enculturation is the process through which individuals acquire behavioural patterns (eg; hunting, driving cars, speaking English,) and other aspects of their culture from others through observation, instructions, using language and reinforcement for survival of the group. This is conscious and unconscious learning. This set of patterns of learning transmits the culture from one generation to the next. Enculturation does not explain why a given trait is found in Cultures. Enculturation is just the transmission not the cause of a culture. The younger generation never has the same culture as their parents and why they keep one cultural trait and reject another is explainable.
Diffusion is the transmission of cultural traits from one society to another. For instance if Chinese peasants teach the son to eat with chopsticks that is enculturation, but if a Frenchman asks the owner of a Chinese restaurant to show him how to do it, that is diffusion. Notice that diffusion introduces new ideas into a culture. Ideologies of falsity, is that today in 2025 our new introduction is that creators of female kind, can be male. Or that black skin determines not experience, but species. In reality skin cells protect human body organs. Today in 2025, a political group that is a mechanism of introducing cultural change of falsifying our lives, into untruths of existence. People are not usually interested in change, and not usually eager to get new Gods, or gadgets. They often reject foreign ideas and customs. Ethnocentrism is a mixture of beliefs and feelings that one’s own culture is superior to any other and that foreign ways, ideas, and values are somehow ridiculous or disgusting, less rational, and less human, I think have some validity. Ethnocentrism is found in all societies and it represents a serious obstacle to diffusion. Revealing this ethnocentrism are terms such as savages, primitive, pagans, and idols. Most people are ethnocentric. Hello!
Written by Carolyn d Hogarth Canadian
Am I wrong?