Is a major 'terra nuliis' after 1450 asb

[Intransigent Southerner]

Most primitive people on the planet? By what rubric are you defining that by?

I'm assuming none, because actual modern anthropologists (rightfully) avoid that word like the plague.

 

[galanx]

Lacking technology. They weren't mentally more primitive; nobody is saying that.

The people in Star Trek have matter duplicators, teleportation, and FTL space-flight. We are more_____ than them.

 

[Intransigent Southerner]

Lacking technology. They weren't mentally more primitive; nobody is saying that.

The people in Star Trek have matter duplicators, teleportation, and FTL space-flight. We are more_____ than them.

Lacking technology is still subjective. What technology? Do boomerangs count? What about fire-stick farming? What about chinampa? If there was a linear sequence of technology that all cultures went through, then we might speak of primitiveness. But such a sequence doesn't exist.

 

[Tanc49]

Lacking technology is still subjective. What technology? Do boomerangs count? What about fire-stick farming? What about chinampa? If there was a linear sequence of technology that all cultures went through, then we might speak of primitiveness. But such a sequence doesn't exist.

Such a sequence doesn't exist and yet the telegraph is more primitive than an iPhone.
I would say primitive defines the complexity of skills and resources to create an object. For example, to create a boomerang, sure you need experience but then it's wood and a knife. For a canon, you need dozen of people to master casting, mining, aerodynamic...

 

[zoomar]

Lacking technology is still subjective. What technology? Do boomerangs count? What about fire-stick farming? What about chinampa? If there was a linear sequence of technology that all cultures went through, then we might speak of primitiveness. But such a sequence doesn't exist.

"Primitive" simply connotes first things and simplicity. A hunting technology based on chipped stone spear points or carved ivory harpoons is primitive when compared to one based on complex production techniques such as forged steel or firearms no matter how sophisticated or artful the stone age technology is. That is an objectively real statement. Agriculture based on cultivating available wild resources is more primitive than one based on intensively cultivating and irrigating selectively bred crops, and selective breeding is more primitive than agriculture based on GMO technology.