I read Jared Diamond, (ornithologist, cultural anthropology, sociologist, environmental historian...) fascinating book, "The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?" that delved into societies of the New Guinea Highlands, Pacific islanderss, as well as Inuit, Amazonian Indians, Kalahari San people, and others.
One thing that stuck in my mind was his discussion of why the Highlanders don't sleep under trees; there is a extremely very low risk per night of a branch falling on and killing you if you sleep under a tree, but if you repeatedly engage in low risk activities, the mathmatics of probability tend towards almost certainty of it happening
I read Jared Diamond, (ornithologist, cultural anthropology, sociologist, environmental historian...) fascinating book, "The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?" that delved into societies of the New Guinea Highlands, Pacific islanderss, as well as Inuit, Amazonian Indians, Kalahari San people, and others.
One thing that stuck in my mind was his discussion of why the Highlanders don't sleep under trees; there is a extremely very low risk per night of a branch falling on and killing you if you sleep under a tree, but if you repeatedly engage in low risk activities, the mathmatics of probability tend towards almost certainty of it happening