# The real meaning of conservative (Part 2 of 4)
Date: 2026-10-29
Next Part: https://disrael.github.io/blogs/raw/the-real-meaning-of-conservative.part3.md
Previous Part: https://disrael.github.io/blogs/raw/the-real-meaning-of-conservative.part1.md

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> The dole was not universal welfare for everyone in the empire, nor was it open to all residents of Rome. It was strictly restricted to free, male Roman citizens registered on the urban census rolls. By the time of Augustus, recipient numbers were capped at approximately **200,000 citizens** (the *plebs frumentaria*).

> By the 2nd century CE, public holidays and festival days (*dies festi*) accounted for more than 135 to 175 days of the Roman year. On these days, public business ceased, and state-funded games — chariot races (*ludi circenses*), theatrical plays (*ludi scaenici*), wild beast hunts (*venationes*), and gladiatorial games (*munera*) — filled the hours from morning until dusk.

Spending resources on pyramids or leisure rocket ships is not conservative. Conservative projects have a link to survival like H. sapiens [Qesem cave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qesem_Cave) from 300,000 years ago.

> Excavators uncovered a massive central hearth 6.5 feet in diameter. This immense size indicates it served a relatively large group of people.

> Specialized stone blades and precise cutting tools used for slicing meat were found directly adjacent to the fire. Heavier scrapers and butchering tools were discovered further away, indicating that these early hominins systematically designated distinct “rooms” or zones for domestic activities.

Obsessing over fine technical details is conservative as Neanderthals did with Schöningen wooden spears 300,000 years ago.

> Nine complete spruce and pine javelins plus double-pointed throwing sticks preserved in lakeside mud. Crafted with an offset center of gravity in the front third of the shaft — matching modern Olympic javelins for aerodynamic flight.

Art and religion are perhaps conservative:

> **Twin Rivers, Zambia (~300,000–200,000 years ago):** Excavations here yielded over 170 pieces of hematite and specularite (which produces a glittering, metallic dark-red powder) alongside grindstones. Hominins traveled significant distances to source specific shades of red and glittery pigments over local alternatives.

> **Olorgesailie, Kenya (~320,000–295,000 years ago):** Early Middle Stone Age hominins transported bright red and black manganese pigments from kilometers away and ground them down.

> **Ritual vs. Utility:** While ochre has practical uses — such as insect repellent, sunblock, or an ingredient in hafting adhesives for stone tools — anthropologists point out that utilitarian tasks do not require sourcing specific *glittering* specularite or bright blood-red hues when dull brown iron oxide works identically as glue. Many evolutionary anthropologists (like Camilla Power and Ian Watts) argue this marks the birth of **body painting for collective rituals**, establishing group identity and sacred taboos.

Or maybe it was their version of racism:

> Evolutionary psychologists (such as John Tooby and Leda Cosmides) have demonstrated that the human brain did not evolve a dedicated module to detect “race.” Instead, it evolved to detect coalitions and alliances. In the Pleistocene, the person most likely to kill you or share food with you looked almost identical to you physically, because they lived in the next valley over. Therefore, the markers that triggered intense suspicion or hostility were behavioral and cultural: dialect/language, vocal sounds, body paint (red ochre use dates back ~300,000 years), scarification, and tool-making styles.

Deliberately rejecting technology required to save back breaking labor is not conservative. Which is why 97% of the Amish use motorized washing machines and 100% use horses or better for plowing.

#### All of America is Amish

If we think of Amish as rejecting certain technologies to live a particular lifestyle, then all of the US does the same thing:

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**[Continue reading Part 3 of 4](https://disrael.github.io/blogs/raw/the-real-meaning-of-conservative.part3.md)**