Hunter versus farmer theory states that what we call ADHD was the norm and that farming created a more sedentary human being. Essentially, we domesticated ourselves. Domestication doesn't take very long, only a few generations. Well, you guys were domesticated, anyway. I'm still wild.
Pick up a random item. Do it. Right now. Don't reply, go pick up one random item and finish it. Then come back.
Hunter versus farmer theory states that what we call ADHD was the norm and that farming created a more sedentary human being. Essentially, we domesticated ourselves. Domestication doesn't take very long, only a few generations. Well, you guys were domesticated, anyway. I'm still wild. Our wild ancestors were often brutal, thuggish, awful people, which you hopefully are not. The lives of so many of our ancestors were not the lives we would like to live.
If you're talking about pre-Homo Sapiens, sure. I'm an undomesticated Homo Sapiens, not a different species. Like a dog and a wolf. I'm the wolf, you're the dog. Actually, the non-physical differences between dogs and wolves are nearly identical to the differences between people with ADHD and people without.
Most Sapiens were/are also brutal, thuggish, and awful. The pre-sapiens were also that way, but up until farming, we lived violent, horrid lives. Now we just have more food. Living and staying in one place means we don't have to be as brutal, as often, which is why we live in such peaceful times.
That article could explain my proficiency with firearms without any proper training (Literally here's how to reload and cock it followed by a try not to hurt yourself) as well as my inability to keep still. My knee bounces when I sit.
So does mine. It's been doing that since I was born. My parents thought there was something wrong with me.
I have the issue where I have too many ideas but I can only put one on paper. Which is why I am writing several stories to keep my ideas on paper and out of my head
Pick up a history book. Humans became far, far more violent once domesticated. Nomadic and hunter-gatherer peoples live in numbers too small to support large-scale or even much in the way of small-scale conflicts. It's just far too much of a waste of energy.
Exact same story here. I was talking about my shooting skills with my IDF officer friend. I've gone shooting twice and he told me I had higher accuracy than most people do after several months of training. I can only get better. He's an expert marksman and thinks I could easily get up to his skill level.
I did, I finished watching Cloud Atlas because it's due back at the rental place before night's end. Loved the future world the clones lived in.
While I'll admit that this fills in some blanks in my knowledge that I didn't know I had, it is also not as useful as you seem to think it is. Today, soldiers survive injuries that would have killed them only a decade ago. How about thousands of years ago? A small cut could mean the end of your life. Losing a limb guaranteed it. How many soldiers today survive losing limbs? From what I see, your link doesn't provide any evidence - at all - of a more violent past. Merely one where violence left you more likely to die. That's a well known fact. Regardless, just as a wolf is more prone to biting than a dog, a person with ADHD is more likely to react with emotion. Fighting is far more common in children with ADHD and ADHD is extremely over-represented in martial arts, especially ones that concentrate on application over concentration and meditation. I tried the Asian martial arts. Useless waste of time. Your domestication certainly came with several advantages. In an agriculturally-based society, it is highly advantageous. Which is why people with ADHD don't do well in this society - we aren't designed to. We are built to live a savage and difficult existence. It should be noted that it is believed that most people that enter the military in Western society have ADHD. We can't know for sure, however, because if your COC ever finds out you've been diagnosed with ADHD, you're gone. As I stated, you're a dog, I'm a wolf.
I've read _Driven to Distraction_, by an author with ADHD. I don't know about the authors of the other books I've read. But I'm not clear on what you're saying here. It sounds like you're saying that all people with ADHD are affected by that characteristic to _precisely_ the same degree, and that none are less affected (milder) and none are more affected (more severe). But before I discuss why I disagree with that idea, I'm going to ask if that's what you're saying. Edited to add: And if your argument is that ADHD isn't a "disorder", but just a characteristic of some people, sure, fine, I can accept that. I might argue that, too. But it's a characteristic that causes people some difficulty in a majority-non-ADHD society. And, again, I don't believe that all people with ADHD experience precisely the same level of difficulty.
Adding manual distractions - knitting, throwing a ball in the air and catching it while pacing around the room, that sort of thing - can also be great when you're trying to focus on a purely mental activity. But if you're trying to focus _and_ type, that sort of closes off that option.
From: http://www.thomhartmann.com/articles/2007/11/thom-hartmanns-hunter-and-farmer-approach-addadhd Disorder View: Doesn't convert words into concepts adeptly, and vice versa. May or may not have a reading disability. Hunter View: Visual/Concrete thinker, clearly seeing a tangible goal even if there are no words for it. So, trying to explain this the best I can... It's not that there aren't people that have an easier time of it, just that there is no 'mild' ADHD. It's like saying that there are mild wolves. A wolf is a wolf. Some carry traits that made them easier to domesticate and their offspring became dogs. The original animal was still a wolf.
I can't agree with you here. Someone who has a little trouble focusing on studying, but can overcome it by drinking a Mountain Dew now and then, has a mild problem. Someone who has has failed out of high school or college because he simply _can not_ fulfill the tasks required, has a serious problem. Yes, we can argue that that problem is in a society that doesn't adjust itself to a substantial minority of its members. But that doesn't change the fact that the first person is mildly inconvenienced while the second one is severely inconvenienced. I'm perfectly content to rephrase it as "ADHD causing mild problems" rather than "mild ADHD". But I see nothing productive in taking "mild" to "severe" out of the discussion.
The former example isn't ADHD. Sorry, but it is as simple as that. The hunter versus farmer theory now has genetic testing to back it up. There have also been brain scans that have found several 'patterns' in people diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD is a blanket diagnosis for potentially several different things. So no, there is no mild, no severe. There is the hunter and the farmer and a bunch of other people (such as your Mountain Dew drinker) that get caught up in something that has nothing to do with them. Some hunters adapt better than others, but that doesn't make them a 'mild hunter'. It is a ridiculous concept; as ridiculous as a mild wolf. I find explaining this to people without ADHD almost impossible. Very few ever understand the concept. I will completely forgive you if you don't agree, but you're simply wrong. You can think you're right, but it's like being a plumber with almost no math skills and arguing that Einstein's theory of relativity is wrong. You simply don't have the tools to understand it. In this case, you can't gain the tools to understand it.
Great posts! Back to the original question, without addressing the ADD issue, but may later, but now trying to post quick because I have to get ready for work, pack lunch, shoes (hmm, which ones?) book (the one on plotting or one to read?) the grocery list (all of it today? why does it seem I'm always at the store...) -- oops! Where was I again? Yeah, that. I think it's life. I really don't think the human mind is capable of focusing on one thing for any length of time, unless it's math, a really awesome novel, or a creative hobby where you subconsciously block out all else that exists and go to that numbing place where all your focus is on the moment which, when you check the clock, is actually 3.5 hours later. Love that place. I wouldn't get too worked up about it, not sure everything needs a label either but that could be another post. You will focus when you need to, whether it's termed "creative" or "maladaptive XX" or hormonal, we all do it and you are not alone. Now time to go to work. Actually should have left 10 minutes ago. Sigh ...
And every single person that matches your definition of ADHD is affected by it to precisely, _precisely_ the same degree and _precisely_ the same way? I don't care if it's a gene or a group of genes or a brain characteristic; different people will respond differently. But this is growing off topic for this thread, so I'm dropping out.
Good idea because you obviously don't understand it and I don't think you're capable of understanding it. Even here, you are making claims about my argument that were never made. So yes, do yourself a favour and just don't think about ADHD. You'll never get anywhere with it.
I looked at your link and it seems very simplistic to me. This "hunter-farmer" dichotomy looks nice on paper, but just about everyone I know (myself included) is a blend of the two, with different characteristics emerging at different times, depending on the person's mood, what music is playing, phase of the moon, who won the Stanley Cup, atmospheric pressure, etc. etc. etc. In my experience, the distinction is nearly useless. It's fun to think about, though. And of course there are mild wolves. There are also savage dogs. There are placid people and highly volatile people and everything in between. You should probably drop the "wolf/dog" analogy, because it is of limited use at best. People are far more complicated.
