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Well, my link was both admittedly flippant, and genuinely the second thing I thought of (I'm appalled that I loved that show as a child...), but I avoided the first thing as I assumed it would involve major thread-derailment due to its source. In an attempt to be more helpful I'll be both brave enough to attempt a more on-topic response while being deliberately vague to avoid derailing of the discussion.
A book I read many years ago by a much maligned author (hence, the vagueness) addressed this subject wonderfully so much that I've actually re-read it many times despite other less-comfortable themes in the book.
The gist of the story is that a scientist believes that humanity's destiny and salvation lie in travelling into space, but that civilization/urbanization have completely eradicated the urge to explore. So he builds a time machine to send modern humans (while not astronauts, at least contemporaneous with them, and certainly "temporanauts") back to caveman times to protect the desire to explore in the species.
The underlying theme then throughout the novel is a "vs" that might actually fit in well in the Laboratory forum: "Knowledge" (as accumulated data) vs. "Intelligence" (as the ability to manipulate available data). There's a type of narcissism that comes with advancement (technological, educational, social, etc) that tends to belittle the "unsophisticated", but accumulation of information is useless without the ability to actually utilize it. This is illustrated well in the story where the modern humans are quite sure of being able to make up for the differential in physical strength between themselves and the cavemen by demonstrating their superior magic through being able to kill at a distance with their "magic sticks" and assuming that the natives will be awed. The cavemen are naturally thinking "Sooooo... *that's* how it works...".
Typing that made me reflect a little on the revised thread summary. I don't know the exact text of McLuhan's theory, but I'd disagree if it states that technology has a causal effect on loss of physical ability. I'd argue more that it tends to potentiate inherent tendencies to indulge behaviors resulting in physical atrophy. One view of technology is that it provides a way of avoiding "work" and giving us more leisure or playtime, but I think that there is a learned tendency to equate "work" with "physical exertion better avoided", while ignoring the fact that "play" can be "work" as well, and indeed can involve much more physical exertion than many physical activities described as "work".
Anyway, it would be simplistic to assume that conflict between cavemen and astronauts would solely be resolved via either physical or intellectual prowess rather than a combination of those and other traits.
On the other hand, astronauts have cool zip-guns that go tWEEEEEthakkathakkaZING!!!
Wait, wait! Cavemen ride sabre-tooths and eat dinosaurs!
Hmmm.. On second thought, I think the aliens win..... |
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