The Paleolithic Paradigm

The Paleolithic Paradigm takes us one step further in the nature/nurture debate. Certainly a certain percentage of our behaviors are biologically based. However, culture has the power to override much in genetic commands. The Amish exemplify this, no matter how much "we" qualify them as "quaint." Painting with a wide post-modern paint brush, Stocker takes on a journey through four cultures to show how different people can be. He offers the analogy: our genetic structure is the framework of any house. How we cover and decorate that frame is often the product of ancient traditions. However, we are all products of the same cognitive processes, thus explaining why we take ideas put into our heads as children to the grave whether we accept them, reject them, or alter them. It is this commonality the author examines. Accordingly, he wants to know, if we understand our cognition processes, can we change out behavior at will?

Terry Stocker is the author of 15 books, most of which can be found at Amazon.com. As an archaeologist/anthropologist, he has worked in nine countries throughout Latin America and Asia. He is constantly fascinated by the fact that cultures throughout the world live without any actual understanding of other cultures, including their nearest neighbors. This of course is what leads any group to believe that only they have "the truth" about any area of human activity, especially religion. This too often leads to misunderstandings and is what causes groups to go to war.