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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 25, 2023

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We don't know for certain that people in hunter-gatherer societies also don't feel some sort of alienation with the labor they do.

IIRC when they tried explaining depression to hunter-gatherers, the hunter-gatherers straight-up thought the idea was absurd.

I don't think all the West's problems come from this, but this is very definitely a big part of depression.

Most people have that reaction to depression. Unless they themselves are depressed. And even then if you are the one weird person with an affliction you are better off hiding it.

Scott has an article (book review?) about mental illness and social contagion. He talks about the inuit a hunter gatherer society. I didn't get the sense you could ever get an inuit to admit to depression, they'd basically be signing up for a lifetime of being made fun of for it.

Well, I know I managed to somehow generate the same hypothesis as Kaczynski despite never actually getting around to reading his manifesto. Don't remember the details of how I came to the conclusion, though.

(Of course, physical activity and social contact per se are also relevant.)

I know he reviewed Crazy Like Us, but the Inuit weren't mentioned.

I know I read that, but I must have forgotten. Not sure what went on there.