The Paleo Perspective: The Plight of Prehistoric Man In Modern Times

Is there a “caveman” buried deep inside each of us—one that we refuse to recognize? Do we have Paleolithic instincts and urgings? How much of our behavior is a vestige from our hunter-gatherer past? Man does in fact have an ancient, Paleolithic genetic design. Indeed, human nature hasn’t changed in roughly the last 200,000 years—but human society has changed drastically. Humans were designed to live in small communal groupings. The further away from this primitive setting that we find ourselves, the less likely it is that our genetically governed instincts will adequately serve us. Our deep-seated primitive instincts are ever-lurking in the background, obscured and obfuscated by the pervasiveness of modern civilization—but extremely relevant nonetheless. By ignoring our Paleolithic design we fail to comprehend the nature of our modern predicament.