[ridicter]

>The notion of hunter-gather societies living harmoniously in equilibrium with nature that some people seem to view as an optimal societal arrangement doesn't fit very well with this scenario.

Where is this notion? I've been involved in environmental circles and humans wiping out mammoths, giant sloths in south america, or logging easter island to bareness are pretty well known.

[Tagbert]

In popular culture there is the idea that hunter-gatherer societies live in balance with nature. It is a modern version of the “Nobel Savage” trope.

[slackdog]

It's a very outdated but common notion, popularized around about in the 17th and 18th centuries by the likes of Rousseau. It often gets tied up with enlightenment ideas and is popularly espoused by many (naive) people even today.

It is associated with the controversial phrase "noble savage", which is sometimes said sincerely and sometimes sneeringly.

[shagmin]

I think this notion is pretty common amongst the general population. I'm just speculating but I feel like a lot of people think of hunting and there being an apex predator as the natural order of things, and it's only post-industrial society that has meaningfully affected nature. I mean, do most people even know there were ever giant sloths roaming South America or know anything about Easter Island other than there being some big stone statues there?