Trial and Error

Humans learned how to survive by trial and error. They were hunter-gatherers and had to figure out how to survive by learning from their experience. They would see a berry on a bush and eat it.  If they died and others saw this, they would look at the berry and the bush and avoid eating anything that looked like it. They quickly learned which animals were dangerous and witch were not. They learned what shelter was safe and what wasn’t. The migrated to different areas. Their survival depended on their learning these lessons.

Over time, they taught each other what they knew. Families had formed into clans, usually relatives and other families were added to the clan. Those who were older and more experienced taught those who were younger. Most paid attention and learned quickly because their survival depended on it. There was usually a leader in these clans. Often it was someone who was smarter and sometimes it was just the strongest or the best fighter or best hunter. Their mistakes affected everybody.

We still use trial and error. All of medicine is trial and error. We use it with anything that is complicated. We all try ways to fix things that are broken and sometimes we actually can fix them. My favorite model for learning is stepping on rakes. Learning is immediate, unmistakable, invaluable and memorable, because you now know yet another thing that doesn’t work or shouldn’t be tried. You can then move on to things that might work.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader