For a very long time I have noted that there are individuals who seem to need greater contact with an unrestricted environment. In the past, such individuals would, if they were able, seek to live on the far edge (and beyond) of a settled frontier. As frontiers closed, they would seek outdoor employment as an available--though incomplete…
For a very long time I have noted that there are individuals who seem to need greater contact with an unrestricted environment. In the past, such individuals would, if they were able, seek to live on the far edge (and beyond) of a settled frontier. As frontiers closed, they would seek outdoor employment as an available--though incomplete--proxy.
I'm going to speculate most/all expansionary cultures--true expansionary cultures in which expansion is *not* drive by overpopulation or lack of available resources, but by some internal drive that results in some individuals seeking an "outer edge" and going beyond it--have within them a disproportionate percentage of these "beyond the edge" individuals, and that this, itself, is what drives the expansion of such cultures.
If one looks at the history of western Europe one sees this phenomenon of "edge-seeking" played out over and over, and I would suggest that much the same occurred in prehistory, as well.
I propose that many of those currently homeless are of this type.
For a very long time I have noted that there are individuals who seem to need greater contact with an unrestricted environment. In the past, such individuals would, if they were able, seek to live on the far edge (and beyond) of a settled frontier. As frontiers closed, they would seek outdoor employment as an available--though incomplete--proxy.
I'm going to speculate most/all expansionary cultures--true expansionary cultures in which expansion is *not* drive by overpopulation or lack of available resources, but by some internal drive that results in some individuals seeking an "outer edge" and going beyond it--have within them a disproportionate percentage of these "beyond the edge" individuals, and that this, itself, is what drives the expansion of such cultures.
If one looks at the history of western Europe one sees this phenomenon of "edge-seeking" played out over and over, and I would suggest that much the same occurred in prehistory, as well.
I propose that many of those currently homeless are of this type.