The first 20 minutes so far almost managed to make me angry.
What's the conclusion? That people want happiness but because of dwindling resources the masses must be appeased with less resource intensive techniques?
The documentary equates cooperation with democracy. If anything, democracy is the system in which cooperation diminishes, producing isolated cogs in a big machine.
Hasn't the myth of the noble savage been debunked already?
Conservatives thrive under times of scarcity; liberals under times of prosperity. Human's share characteristics of both Chimps and Bonobos. Here are the differences:
Just look at the differences between the conservative and liberal media. The Alex Jones and Glenn Becks of the world consistently fear monger; danger is just around the corner, problems get scapegoated to a select few, in and out group thinking - essentially patriarchal. Liberal personalities display their disapproval of anti social competitive behavior, resentment of the dominant members of society, yet they constantly mock the in their eye's tribal outcasts; similar to gossip among female's, very matriarchal.
A Bonobos wet dream is A Brave New World, with absolutely no conflict and never ending hedonism. Personally i side with the Chimps, I think if we had it your way we would all die of boredom.
“Others bury their heads between the swollen teats of indulgence and gratification, piglets squirming beneath a sow for shelter... ...but there is no shelter...“
It does bring up some good points; the west is fundamentally full of sickness. But this does not have to do with to much hierarchy. Rather a material hierarchy replacing a spiritual one.
The Noble Savage
”It's like that here, only the strong survive”
One of the tribes most resembling the Cro-Magnon. A tranquil state of being. The liberals are right; there is much to be learned by indigenous peoples. But not for their reasons. Notice how the women are essentially commodities rewarded to the strongest warriors. This is why a post-scarcity Bonobo economy is impossible, because no matter how much abundance is derived from technology; there will always be sexual competition.
At the present moment people are never satisfied in the moment, they are always longing for some projected future, a void which can never be filled. This not due to anxiety in a competitive capitalist society, rather a lack of an established hierarchy, no sense of belonging. Nietzsche who considered him self an anti-anti-Semite, was directly opposed to German Nationalism as it was a perspective of the masses. People who associated their own power with the collective power of a nation. We can see a repeat of the 20th century today with people across the world divided into either class populists - (Occupy, Anfia, Etc) or nation populists - (Tea Party, Golden Dawn, National Front, Etc). How do we return to an aristocratic society that derives it's authority from above, while still maintaining a bottom-up economy is the question of the century.
