I life as a child
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In Lewis Thomas's essay "The IKS" we learn and discuss the cultural differences between a small tribe, of nomadic hunters and gatherers from Northern Uganda, called the Iks and the similarities between our society. The Iks are best described as a tribe of separated, wild creatures, totally selfish and loveless, in response to an act of dismantlement of their traditional culture. The government decided to have a national park, so the Iks were obliged by law to give up hunting in the valleys and become farmers on the poor land they gave them. Their whole culture changed and a book was written on them, which took two years by an anthropologist. Thomas's essay discusses the message of the book and introduces theories and addresses a concern, that we should pay attention to the Iks, for we might learn something by watching.
The message of the book is that an Ik has transformed themselves into a one man focused mind and doesn't look to anyone for help. One of Thomas's theories implys that since his society is so unworkable he has to make one up. Thomas gives a reason that "Each Ik has become a group, a one-man tribe of its own, a constituency." After Thomas says this theory he starts comparing Cities and Nations to Iks and relates symbolic characteristics. "For total greed, rapacity, heartlessness, and irresponsibility, there is nothing to match a nation...