I don’t think they told “a joke”, nor intended to. This was a humorous exchange as well as a commentary on human nature. My day is better for having read it.
Bill Watterson is one of the greatest comic artists ever, and even he said (paraphrased) “I enjoy a funny conversation more than just one punchline”.
Another great person, Empricorn said “let people enjoy what they like”.
And to deliver this profound message of “people are inherently distrustful” they needed 20 panels.
They could have done this in one. Have each caveman holding out one hand to pass food and the other hand holding a club behind their backs.
Want to really illustrate the groundbreaking idea that people don’t trust each other? Make a second panel with knights replacing the cavemen and swords replacing clubs, then a third panel swapping in businessmen holding pistols.
If humor wasn’t the goal that’s… fine, but being long-winded in a format based on brevity undermines the message. Using 20 panels guarantees that half of the people who bother to look at the comic won’t finish it. Those that do will probably be bored or even resentful that their time was wasted, making them less receptive to the message.
I find it interesting that your takeaway was “people are inherently distrustful.” While there is truth to that, my interpretation was that “progress can be slow, but it is progress nonetheless.” In this case the “slow” of the message was communicated through the panel count.
I’m sorry but how is this extremely amarican. Like the Japanese also assist echother the Russians assist echother. I’m sure people in China and north Korea have friends that assist echother.
This is a load of shit. Why it has up votes blows my mind.
Do some reading or watching of hunter gatherer societies and you’ll see lots of group survival activities. Teamwork in hunts, in preserving food, in crafting tools, and making shelter.
If we were this self-centered, we wouldn’t have such advanced communication, which is how we were able to do all those group activities.
Survival of the fittest is survival of those that cooperate.
They went from threatening to kill each other to sharing food, then contemplating trading more food in promise of later trades. This is a message of progress and cooperation. Extrapolating this forward, I have no doubt that this is the groundwork for the teamwork you describe. Any hesitancy along the way seems like no big deal to me.
Its part of the lemmy meta-game at this point is to take a joke super seriously and go on a psudo-intellectual rant about how the contents of the joke are the sum of everything wrong with humanity. Everyone needs their 5 minutes on the high horse
It’s a comic about cavemen. It can be entertaining and interesting without being a complete representation of early human society. That said afaik there is evidence people in prehistory killed each other a lot.
Say what you will about the game, but IRL does a decent job of switching up the meta on a regular basis. Though it’s pretty frustrating when you figure out a decent strat, and then next season it’s useless.
It’s normal for males, even in social species, to bully food from members weaker than them. Sharing food is a sign of accepting a lower status and avoiding conflict.
I kind of read it more as the cavemen slowly coming to realize that they are both better off with mutual co-operation rather than that they are better off by simply being greedy, because the risk of the greed was too big. It was in their best self-interest to work with one another, i.e. they were both self-centered, and were still able to co-operate. Sort of some selfish gene type stuff, I guess.
It’s so funny to me (in the positive way!) that your comment actually transforms this comic into a piece of art by giving it a social commentary (and by interpreting its meaning). And by making it art, you basically give the best counterpoint against “it’s not historically accurate” .
So let me get this straight your angry that this comic about cave men learning that being selfish doesn’t work. Has people that don’t understand that being selfish doesn’t work.
Right! Has no one paid attention to chimpanzees, baboons, or other primates? Recognizing those like yourself and working together is baked in. Even in species that are even farther away from us, in an evolution sense, we see cooperation.
Modern technological human history is only about a hundred years … we were cavemen and acting like scared children for about 50,000 years before and like frightened monkeys for 2 million years before that … we may have landed on the moon but we are closer to our ancient ancestors than to any futuristic highly evolved human society.
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what has civilization ever done for us?
I think of that as the cumulative result of natural survival instincts. There's nothing really very civilized at all about today's civilization except that we've built facades to pretend to ourselves that we're really "good" people who care about sheltering and feeding others. We actually don't. WE just want to have more for ourselves everyone else, and kill the people who get in our way. (and that's true of all humans).
Yes and computer that I got by let's say, not standard means, and taking it from a person who thought they were going to be able to use it for their kids (I really did snatch it away from them). And I love that about me, I have no pretense about being "better than others." I know that human civilization is a mask for people's innate greed, hate and selfishness.
You are a truly shitty person also, Mein Herr. I know what your name implies and I know the things you've done, so don't come over all high and mighty - your past has more skeletons in it than a white supremacists' lynching tree.
Please enlighten me, because I have no idea what you’re talking about. Is Samus Aran, intergalactic bounty hunter, secretly a Nazi? Is the combination on President Skroob’s luggage some kind of white supremacist code?
You have every idea what I'm talking about you filthy bastard. But I'm all too happy to spell it out here if that's what you want. I'm backward searching your history with very frightening results - and it turns out we live pretty close to each other.
I loved "Joker" but didn't get to see it until about a year ago. I love the way he just massacres people that annoy him or aren't the same skin color as he is. I love that totally!
You should stop projecting and speak for yourself then. You’re not civilizatiom’s mouthpiece. You were not alive when humans walked upright… you won’t be around when we go back to a crawl.
Not really, I was lucky enough to inherit a family trust when my parents both kicked the bucket. I was able to retire at 48 and now, I just spend my days golfing and going traveling and enjoying myself. But I do give a lot of time to the local food banks and money as well, so I don't think that I'm JUST a parasite. But, if parasites can live well, then why not enjoy it and make the most of it.
Yeah, no. By the sounds of it, you’re a piece of shit and have no right to speak for anyone but your own shitty self. You’re right about one thing; you’re not better than others, you are far worse. Fuck off projecting your awfulness onto everyone else.
From what I've found about you on backward search on the dark web, you're more than just a piece of shit but also a rapist and addict. So, maybe you shouldn't be passing on judgment about others when you yourself are such a fucking miserable scumbag.
You should be aware that civilization also provides a way to easily exchange goods or services in a fair trade for laptops, in addition to that opportunity for theft.
They civilized left, they civilized right - 'til nothing is left, and nothing is right. They've civilized freedom 'til no one is free. (From "Paint your Wagon").
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