You haven't come a long way, Baby

WSJ via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Science Journal: Caveman crooners may have aided early human life

In Steven Mithen's imagination, the small band of Neanderthals gathered 50,000 years ago around the caves of Le Moustier, in what is now the Dordogne region of France, were butchering carcasses, scraping skins, shaping ax heads -- and singing.

One of the fur-clad men started it, a rhythmic sound with rising and falling pitch, and others picked it up, indicating their willingness to cooperate both in the moment and in the future, when the group would have to hunt or fend off predators. The music promoted "a sense of we-ness, of being together in the same situation facing the same problems," suggests Prof. Mithen, an archaeologist at England's Reading University. Music, he says, creates "a social rather than a merely individual identity." And that may solve a longstanding mystery....

Hey, who knew "we-ness" was a technical term? Jon Strande, probably--if you stretch "music" out to mean radio and, then, expand radio to include Howard Stern's listenership...

I think it really comes down to transference - for many of the things that we "love". Transference is basically the process whereby emotions are passed on or displaced from one person onto someone or something else.

But what purpose does transference serve?

For Erich Fromm, the psychologist and humanistic philosopher, transference reflects mans alienation (slightly edited for clarity):

"In order to overcome his/her sense of inner emptiness, [man]... chooses an object onto whom he projects all his own human qualities: his love, intelligence, courage, etc. By submitting to this object, he feels in touch with his own qualities; he feels strong, wise, courageous, and secure. To lose the object means the danger of losing himself. This mechanism, idolatric worship of an object, based on the fact of the individuals alienation, is the central dynamism of transference, that which gives transference its strength and intensity."

Transference, huh? So, "object" can be group? Like friends? Or market segment? What does that make our colleagues? Reinforcements for the Affinity Army? Existential back-up? Sure. And we signal each other, semaphore-style, with our choices and tastes and tunes. We-ness is just another word (is it a word?) for strength in numbers and pride in group. Collected hope against the unknown with occasional chances to be MVP?

Yeah, that's it. And from that springs opportunity for lead singers to emerge, by example, and only (effectively?) by consensus. For Ugg the caveman, it means saving your pal Ogg when he trips while running from the furry beast; or maybe knowing where to find the best flint for spearpoints. Impressive. And then you make up a song about it. Or a picture. For Mary Anne, the paralegal from Poughkeepsie, it means being in the know ahead of your circle--the go-to-girl on what's what or what's next. And then you go clubbing. Or start a magazine. Or a blog. Flocks 'n shepherds, makers and finders; artists and singers, patrons and audience. It's an "if a tree falls in the woods" deal isn't it?

[it's Ernest Becker's] ontological paradox: Me-ness, within we-ness. First, among equals. They're the reflected light of their buyers' and their readers' Suns.

Or their listeners ears? Seems leading and membership are both consensual, cross-referential acts, each group with it's own lexicon and tune. And harmonics. And with job descriptions--vital roles--including how-ness and wow-ness: process and presentation skill. Cavemen had Lascaux and Zhoukoudian Caves and a good harmonious grunt-along to signify past present and future understanding. We have CD burners, Google video, and...

Cafe Press?