What was the first cultural object? For many theorists, including Ursula K. Le Guin, it is the container, the bag, the sack, the vessel. In her essay "The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction," Le Guin describes a harmonious daily life of gathering by prehistoric people, which stands in brutal contrast to the heroic stories of mammoth-hunting warriors and their weapons. She talks about wishing for an origin story of culture that is not written in blood. If our origins, according to history books, consist of the killing of animals and fellow humans, Le Guin would rather not be human. To feel like a full-fledged part of humanity in harmony with nature, instead of its conqueror, she focuses the story on the perspective of people who managed everyday life with the help of a bag, whether it was for gathering food or carrying offspring. These are life stories in contrast to the well-known killer stories.
Frustrated with modern-day capitalism I sometimes romanticize a post apocalyptic world. A free human in nature needs about fifteen hours a week to sustain itself, gathering and preparing food and caring for a shelter. Nowadays we work for around 40 hours a week selling most of our conscious time for a lifestyle that leads to old age - but at what cost?