Hi Doug,
>Hey, if you find living in caves, walking around in skins, not being
>able to read or write, and dying before your 40th birthday
>attractive, who am I to roll my eyes?
I'm not advocating a return to the caves. What's attractive is the fact that foraging societies were egalitarian, marketless, stateless societies. And as such, they are useful examples of alternative social arrangements, and perhaps there are aspects of these societies that we could imitate to make our lives better.
Besides, it is at least rational to give up your TV and computer in order to be free, even if that's not the choice you might make personally. And many westerners actually did find the savages more attractive, when there were still some around to interact with. John Smith instituted severe punishment for Jamestown colonists who ran off to live with the Indians and were subsequently recaptured. The members of the Roanoke colony probably did the same. Admittedly hunger might have been a motivation for these particular colonists, but there are other examples as well.
As for life expectancy, the various studies of the San bushmen estimated life expectancy from birth to be somewhere between 30-40 years, with most estimates coming in at the lower end of the range. The average is brought down by high infant mortality rates (not a good thing). According to one fieldworker, about 17% of the San population was over 50, 30% over 40, and 43% over 30. People were known to live into their 80's. While this can't compare to the longevity of people in the present day US, these statistics compare very favorably to England as recently as 200 years ago.
Brett