Our ancestors are smarter than us?

rgk · Post by **rgk** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 11:42 pm

Just pondering on few thoughts..

Even with limited mobility/information sharing, our ancestors are better adapted to life than us??

I am sure there are issues with quality of life though..

Water - Self sufficient with no bores,electricity etc.. Effectively implemented rain water harvesting and better water utilization..

Marriages - Use to look at atleast few genertions. Careful to not to go for families who had health issues or behavior issues. Marrying a wrong person with health or mental issues can ruin the entire family happiness..

DIL/SIL - Mostly confined with in their families or relations. Family relations are driven my women behavior mostly i believe (Guys are busy in their own world and also not much say anyway after certain yrs... ). So u all seen MIL/FIL threads.. One side of relation can be cut off completely depending on her.. Going into relations bring all of them into the same fold and help strengthen the bond as both of them knows each other from childhood.. Having large & close extended family bring lot of prosperity to entire family not only in the form of networking, monetary but also physiological help when needed.

Got some downtime to think on these random thoughts..:)

John Winters · Post by **John Winters** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:05 am

Great thread.

Comparison may not be appropriate; but I think they were not any less smart than this generation: check out this thread for instance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_inventions_and_discoveries

As much our generation is capable of ingenuity, our fore-fathers had the brains to invent some of the greatest inventions for mankind: To name a few, Algebraic equations, concept of zero as a number, Trigonometric functions, Plastic/cataract surgeries, etc.

They probably had the smarts to invent more, perhaps they had the vision to weigh their pros and cons and did not go through with them.
Modern computing is probably the mother of all inventions, has it made our lives better in any absolute sense...debatable.

I say, they were no dummies.....

gwldaddu · Post by **gwldaddu** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:17 am

I completely agree with your point that our ancestors were much much smarter than us. They invented all that was required for a happy living. The things that they did not invent were not actually necessary for a happy life.

However, I do not take following quality of our ancestors in a positive way.

rgudapat;400046
Marriages - Use to look at atleast few genertions. Careful to not to go for families who had health issues or behavior issues. Marrying a wrong person with health or mental issues can ruin the entire family happiness..

So if a girl has health problem or is physically challenged or say has an alcoholic uncle or may be a gambling father or her sister married outside of caste...

Then such a girl can never get married. No boy would have guts to go against his elders and marry such a girl. Why?

So, to marry a girl, you have to see her past 7 generations and make sure that they were all "healthy, wealthy and wise"?

That is tougher than the bankruptcy filing.. You come out clean in only 7 years...

okonomi · Post by **okonomi** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 2:20 am

OK...the last time I wanted to retrieve something from a U-trap under the bathroom sink....I wondered what an ancestor would do in that case... and I did just that.....wrapping a double-sided mounting tape on a long chopstick .....after a few trials, pulling some other debris out....success !!
[YOUTUBE]EaEDeRJKN0s[/YOUTUBE]

gwldaddu;400061I completely agree with your point that our ancestors were much much smarter than us. They invented all that was required for a happy living. The things that they did not invent were not actually necessary for a happy life.

As for happy living on a tiffin of turmites and ants...I would pro'lly need to have them chocolate coated before I can enjoy them as ancestors do.....

dcnri2india · Post by **dcnri2india** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 2:31 am

"ancestors" how far back are we talking?

cheers

Sid · Post by **Sid** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 4:23 am

Thought of the day: Our ancestors had to invent because there was no Google. :)

KirKS · Post by **KirKS** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 10:20 pm

rgudapat;400046Even with limited mobility/information sharing, our ancestors are better adapted to life than us??

The answer depends upon how many centuries or millennia you want to rewind back.

Let's say 400 years back, with India as the focal point.. more like peninsular India.

They were physically much fitter than most of us. miles of walking, drawing water from wells/ponds/rivers, taking care of numerous kids, working in fields where applicable, would have required tremendous stamina & fitness.

Their food habits were usually limited. Those in lush forest areas or fertile deltas might have been lucky.

Their life span was low on an average. Those who lived on beyond 50 or 60 were very very healthy considering the low medical care available.

If they were in the path of a marauding army or battle crazy ruler, adaptability to the condition would have been critical. Life was harsher for such villages/towns.

With lower lifespans and early marriages, hardly any mother-in-law, DIL kind of issues. When you enter someone's house at 12 or 14, you are going to treat that woman, irrespective of how she treated you, as a 'respectable' elder. By the time thought processes mature in mid twenties, that DIL already had a few kids, and MIL either dead or dying. On top of it, considering the hard life, weather extremes, joint families, a lot of 'discipline' to adjust would have been there.

Competition would have been lower for men folk, earning a livelihood. With social caste divisions, designated job profiles were there, whether lucrative or not. Unemployment would have been lower.

Since everything revolved around monsoon rains, survival instincts would have been far higher than today's generation. For instance, if one lived in a heavy rain Western Ghats area, for 4 months during rain, all sorts of careful accumulation of essentials would have been a life or death situation. All sorts of medical/herbal knowledge was vital for kids' & old people's survival.

In summary, I would say yes. They were not 'smart' compared to the technology or livelihood standards we define as advanced today. But they were more adaptable, social and probably took life a bit less stressfully than us, even when meeting ends meet was much harder.. much much harder.

indigoyogi · Post by **indigoyogi** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 10:39 pm

KirKS;400281. But they were more adaptable, social and probably took life a bit less stressfully than us, even when meeting ends meet was much harder.. much much harder.

I agree.