The assumption that the ancient peoples who created great civilisations lived as modern savages do is routinely made by anthropologists but is entirely unjustified and even absurd on the face of it.

The behaviour and social structure of Yanomamo is the reason they are still savages, and live in far away inaccessible locations. The fact that ancestors of civilised people managed to create civilisation is proof that they were quite different – or differently organized.

However, this is not exactly what Chagnon wanted to say.

This kind of savage behaviour is perfectly rational in the savage society. It is not that Yanomamo are stupid and inefficient savages, and other people – with high future time orientation – whould make better, more efficient savages.

Civilised behaviour is rational in a civilised society.

The whole point of human biodiverstiy blog-movement is that in our society, civilised behaviour and genetic traits which support it make no sense and will be shortly extinct.

Yanomamo society is no different from ours. Even if there was a village of Yanomamo with a tendency to pacifism, honesty and hard work, they would go extinct – unless they managed to change the organisation of society. In practice, this means establishing a sacred monarchy.

If you believe in human neurological uniformity, then yeah, the Yanomamo and Pueblo Indians prove your point.

However, does this sound familiar to anyone?

Big villages lord over small villages. So if you’re seeking an ally who will protect you from the buggers up the hill who are bigger than you, you’re at a disadvantage because in order to get allies, you’ve got to give women to them. It’s an economics game where the smaller village has to pay up front for the privileges of the alliance, and the bigger village tends to default on many of its agreements. So big villages tend to exploit small villages. It’s always a good idea to live in a big village; however, it’s like living in a powder keg.

People with low future time orientation don’t stick to agreements. Living with large groups of them leads to high levels of random violence, etc. But civilization doesn’t cure any of these problems when dealing with the same population groups.

As E.O. Wilson said about communism “Nice idea, wrong species.” If you’re HBD-aware, maybe the quote about the noble savage is “Nice idea, wrong race.”

Of course, the human tribes that would make noble savages actually tend to build civilizations — specifically because they can cooperate for long term goals. Being ignoble savages is a result of their ignoble nature and not the cause of it.