[thecoppinger]

I reflect on this often. There’s something to be said for the lost ways of retribution of old, and the evolution that came with it.

If modern bankers and sycophantic politicians et al tried their modus operandi back in the era of tribes, I’m quite sure they were removed from the gene pool fairly quickly.

[vorpalhex]

It's worth reading the history here. Usually "your group" would steal from you and tell you it was some outside group. You go burn down and lynch a bunch of people who had nothing to do with it.

Often times this included moneylenders.. who were usually a religious minority. It usually involved their kids too.

[thecoppinger]

I wrote my original comment at the midnight hour as I was falling asleep; I should have clarified that I meant more ancient than that, i.e. pre-agriculture, post-cave dwelling.

More along the lines of:

Jim has a bad habit of being a bit of a dick—harassing & bullying tribespeople, taking an unfair amount from the tribe—Jim gets removed from the gene pool next hunting trip. The quality of the tribe, present and future, improves.

I understand how this kind of thing doesn't track very well as a strategy overall in more complex & modern environments.

[Spivak]

What you describe was literally the cause of the revolutionary war in the US!

[vorpalhex]

No, the British were actually taxing the Americans without representation and running kangaroo courts, though the tea ship the colonists attacked wasn't really all that involved.

[MaxBarraclough]

Lawlessness and retribution didn't stop the robber barons.

[thecoppinger]

Right on — I should add that my shower thought wasn't suggesting we should go back, just an observation of the evolution of all things, in this case, justice and social order etc.

While some is gained and some is lost, I'm in the camp that the world is a better place now than it was then.