Money and Finance
This is an excerpt from his new book (which comes out on 12/31) The World Until Yesterday.
I find myself thinking a lot about the New Guinea people with whom I have been working for the last 49 years, and about the comments of Westerners who have lived for years in hunter-gatherer societies and watched children grow up there. Other Westerners and I are struck by the emotional security, self-confidence, curiosity, and autonomy of members of small-scale societies, not only as adults but already as children. We see that people in small-scale societies spend far more time talking to each other than we do, and they spend no time at all on passive entertainment supplied by outsiders, such as television, videogames, and books. We are struck by the precocious development of social skills in their children. These are qualities that most of us admire, and would like to see in our own children, but we discourage development of those qualities by ranking and grading our children and constantly telling them what to do. The adolescent identity crises that plague American teenagers aren’t an issue for hunter-gatherer children. The Westerners who have lived with hunter-gatherers and other small-scale societies speculate that these admirable qualities develop because of the way in which their children are brought up: namely, with constant security and stimulation, as a result of the long nursing period, sleeping near parents for several years, far more social models available to children through allo-parenting, far more social stimulation through constant physical contact and proximity of caretakers, instant caretaker responses to a child’s crying, and the minimal amount of physical punishment.
- The Conversation Talks With Joseph Tainter (2012)
Link to podcast: Episode 19: Joseph Tainter Dr. Joseph Tainter is an anthropologist and historian who has studied collapse in numerous ancient civilizations and penned The Collapse of Complex Societies. This is our first deeply historical episode and...
- States Of Health - By Atul Gawande
This week, the centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act, which provides health-insurance coverage to millions of people like Sullivan, is slated to go into effect. Republican leaders have described the event in apocalyptic terms, as Republican leaders have...
- Paul Tough: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, And The Hidden Power Of Character
Paul Tough: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character .................. Related book: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character ...
- Bill Gates: We Cannot Stand Still On Polio, But We Can Push Ahead And End It
At Microsoft I learned that innovation is the most powerful force for change in the world. Today, I see that same excitement and promise in my work in philanthropy. Thanks to the accelerating pace of innovation, we are making new discoveries to drive...
- The Secret To Raising Smart Kids - By Carol S. Dweck
This article came back on my radar, so I thought I’d post it here since it doesn’t appear that I’ve posted it previously. A brilliant student, Jonathan sailed through grade school. He completed his assignments easily and routinely earned As. Jonathan...
Money and Finance
Jared Diamond: Best Practices for Raising Kids? Look to Hunter-Gatherers
This is an excerpt from his new book (which comes out on 12/31) The World Until Yesterday.
I find myself thinking a lot about the New Guinea people with whom I have been working for the last 49 years, and about the comments of Westerners who have lived for years in hunter-gatherer societies and watched children grow up there. Other Westerners and I are struck by the emotional security, self-confidence, curiosity, and autonomy of members of small-scale societies, not only as adults but already as children. We see that people in small-scale societies spend far more time talking to each other than we do, and they spend no time at all on passive entertainment supplied by outsiders, such as television, videogames, and books. We are struck by the precocious development of social skills in their children. These are qualities that most of us admire, and would like to see in our own children, but we discourage development of those qualities by ranking and grading our children and constantly telling them what to do. The adolescent identity crises that plague American teenagers aren’t an issue for hunter-gatherer children. The Westerners who have lived with hunter-gatherers and other small-scale societies speculate that these admirable qualities develop because of the way in which their children are brought up: namely, with constant security and stimulation, as a result of the long nursing period, sleeping near parents for several years, far more social models available to children through allo-parenting, far more social stimulation through constant physical contact and proximity of caretakers, instant caretaker responses to a child’s crying, and the minimal amount of physical punishment.
- The Conversation Talks With Joseph Tainter (2012)
Link to podcast: Episode 19: Joseph Tainter Dr. Joseph Tainter is an anthropologist and historian who has studied collapse in numerous ancient civilizations and penned The Collapse of Complex Societies. This is our first deeply historical episode and...
- States Of Health - By Atul Gawande
This week, the centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act, which provides health-insurance coverage to millions of people like Sullivan, is slated to go into effect. Republican leaders have described the event in apocalyptic terms, as Republican leaders have...
- Paul Tough: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, And The Hidden Power Of Character
Paul Tough: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character .................. Related book: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character ...
- Bill Gates: We Cannot Stand Still On Polio, But We Can Push Ahead And End It
At Microsoft I learned that innovation is the most powerful force for change in the world. Today, I see that same excitement and promise in my work in philanthropy. Thanks to the accelerating pace of innovation, we are making new discoveries to drive...
- The Secret To Raising Smart Kids - By Carol S. Dweck
This article came back on my radar, so I thought I’d post it here since it doesn’t appear that I’ve posted it previously. A brilliant student, Jonathan sailed through grade school. He completed his assignments easily and routinely earned As. Jonathan...