did the cavemen have it right?

[annie0000]

Just musing today about society in general and wondered if maybe they had it right back when there was communal living? The advantages as I see it are:

Old people and singles wouldn't get lonely
Men would get plenty of male bonding
Woman would get plenty of female bonding
Kids would get a more even upbringing rather than just the thoughts of their parents
Couples could get couple time as there would be plenty of babysitters who knew the children
Kids from one parent households would get access to the time of the gender of adult that they are missing
The responsibilities of taking care of disabled/elderly people would be shared
Shopping/Cooking would take on economies of scale as would travel
there could be skills sharing

disadvantages would be a lack of privacy and autonomy

What do you think - is it time we took life back to olden times? lol

Any other advantages or disadvantages??

[tenrec]

Disadvantage would be that you might get eaten by a woolly mammoth, ha ha!

[annie0000]

lol tenrec - I meant now rather than actually going back into the cave..... not quite comfy enough for me - it would be a bit drafty.

[seadogg]

Did cavemen lead such a communal life? As they lived by hunting and gathering it is more likely they lived in scattered family units each to a territory. There are peoples in the South Pacific who do live such a life today though. Free love and coconuts- bliss.

[DaisyNonna]

Loathe coconuts

[annie0000]

hi seadog - you could very well be right, I have no idea of the anthropology really, just meant communal living in general - and yes, there are probably still tribal societies that still live like that, just wondered if it would or could work in the modern world.

[annie0000]

daisy, you could be in charge of the cooking then :o)

[Kiki-frog]

No escape from other people's screaming kids in a cave.

[annie0000]

yeah, but they wouldn't be screaming as they would be communal children and you would be within your rights to tell them to shut up :o) to be fair, they'd probably scream less as there would be more guidance and attention.....I would think.

[mrs_overall]

Pining for the good old days annie? I didn't realise you were that old

<<<<<<legs it>>>>>>

[DaisyNonna]

Anyone got a scrumptious recipe for bison?

[annie0000]

mrs O - watch out in case you get thumped on the back of the head by a giant mountain shaped chocolate bar......

[mrs_overall]

Daisy, I think you could adapt my recipe for sabre tooth tiger stew

[seadogg]

Make brandy custard in it.

[annie0000]

daisy - I've not invented a time machine, this has to be done in modern times somehow - though we would need to get rid of computers as we couldn't all be bitching about each other on AB!!

[Mosaic]

We have to be careful about generalisations. On the whole pre-agricultural societies had to cooperate to survive. I agree that there must be huge advantages in having people nearby, sharing resources and working on communal tasks together.
We don't know that this happened all the time, and for every loved-up tribal feast of mammoth there could have been dozens of outsiders who were literally frozen out.
But even sophisticated societies like ancient Egypt relied on huge efforts of social cooperation to flourish. We can learn from these. And I wonder if it's no coincidence that ancient Egypt never developed a coin -based economy.

[annie0000]

thanks mosaic, I think there is definitely some benefits to it. It was a combination of my OH planning a hill walk with a a couple of our neighbours and thinking about another neighbour who has 2 kids that are heading out of control and could probably have done with a bit of a male influence on them that got me thinking....

[DaisyNonna]

Not sure that I could cope with all that togetherness. Lived alone for too long.

[annie0000]

I like my own company too daisy, but there must be some way to get the benefits without the pain.....

[Mosaic]

In NZ the Maoris appoint a kind of foster father for boys, to guide them through their difficult phase. It's acknowledged that youths need to break away but need a role model - we need that here.

[annie0000]

we definitely need something mosaic cos supernanny aint cutting it with some families