Glasses

Regenerative Culture Health, Healing & Movement
#1

I’m almost surprised no one has mentioned this, but then again, it sometimes feels almost taboo to bring it up… but I was talking with my dad the other day, and he mentioned to me something he’s mentioned to me before, that, because of his poor eyesight, he would not have survived in a hunter-gatherer type society, and it was only the agricultural society that allows and supports the ‘weak’ to live…

Now I realize that having acute senses has importance to said lifestyle, and such would follow the ‘survival of the fittest’ paradigm, I’m not going to define what ‘is’ and ‘isn’t’ ‘fit’ but, has civilization by supporting and allowing the ‘weak’ to live resulted in a sort of - ‘de-evolution’ (horrible word >>), or, is civilization really the cause of such?

And secondly, in a feral culture, what about glasses / eye problems?? Or if say I have a child and that child develops eye problems later in life? (This isn’t the sort of thing where the baby just doesn’t live, or has a retardation or something like that and you can tell when the baby is born…)

Now you don’t see say the (early) native Americans running around with glasses, but, what evidence do we have of what may have been done in such cases in indigenous societies, (if such arose)?

#2

this site suggests the relatively recent boom of myopia is related to diet.

i think it’s more of an issue for those of us w/ poor eyesight for the near future, i think the next generation will have far fewer eyesight issues.

#3

I love that site, good stuff, I’ll look into that more.

I myself am ‘farsighted’ I had glasses for about a week in 4th grade and then lost them… and never had em again.

My dad and one of my sisters needs glasses, my mom and the rest of us (3) do not.

oh my dad made it out that (as I have thought) it’s a gene thing and that I’m a carrier and my children might need glasses (depending on whom I marry etc. etc).

#4

don’t know if this really works but i found this:
Pinhole goggles/ Survival vision-wear-
http://wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/vision/js/index.html

#5

I have pretty bad eyesight (nearsighted). I’ve worn glasses since I was 8, and I’ve recently begun wearing contacts. It might be a good investment to get some good strong “sports” glasses, but either way I look at it, it’s going to be a problem in a crash scenario.

Ran Prieur talks here about eyesight recovery. I tried some of his methods briefly, but found I didn’t have the patience for it.

At this point the best thing I can think of is what Derrick Jensen says to anyone who asks how he’ll deal with his Crohn’s disease in a crash: “Stock up”.

#6

I’ve been thinking about this a lot cause I’m gonna facilitate a discussion at the Porcupine Palace on the abelism issue that comes up often around the rewilding community. How do we address it? Do we address it at all? It’s a tuff one. I’m torn, I want everyone to be able to rewild if they want and need that, but am I meddling with nature by getting in the way of “survival of the fittest” by being dedicated to helping folks that couldn’t do it on their own? To much to discuss via typing for me, I’m stoked to watch this thread though.

#7

I’ve never bought into the “survival of the fittest” meme. Organisms that are able to adapt and change with their environment survive. End of story. If a paraplegic blind person can create and foster a sustainable culture, then so be it. You don’t have to have blond hair and blue eyes to rewild.

#8
I've never bought into the "survival of the fittest" meme. Organisms that are able to adapt and change with their environment survive. End of story. If a paraplegic blind person can create and foster a sustainable culture, then so be it. You don't have to have blond hair and blue eyes to rewild.

whew, that’s good, cos I have blonde hair brown eyes.
I think adaptability comes especially unique with humans, and I think if one thought about it, one could most definitely survive/thrive, perhaps in their own niche sort of way, but what does that matter, doesn’t have to be how everyone else does.

#9

one of my friends got the Lasik suregery b/c she believes in collapse/end -of-the-world/apocalypse.

I beileve it was 1400USD, and she says it is worth every penny. been two years and she hasn’t had any sort of eye problems since then. She wore glasses pretty much since she was born.

#10

Depending on how bad your eyesight is, Lasik could be a great idea. (Mine is pretty bad! I’m very near-sighted.)

A lot of people need to get bifocals as they get older. Is Lasik supposed to prevent your vision from changing in that way?

#11


wikipedia, go figure :slight_smile: There are a fair number of risks, but if you could live with them… I’d be most concerned about the lack of information about long-term effects. Industrial medicine tends to push stuff without a thought in the world about the long term, and brush those discussions under the rug.

I have a friend that was going to get it done, but the surgeon told him that his cornea was too thin… I guess there was a chance that post-surgery, his remaining cornea could just fall off. Fun.

Has anyone tried ‘rehabilitating’ their eyes in some way?

#12

Needing bifocals when you get older is a different condition than myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), astigmatism, etc. Bifocals are necessary to correct presbyopia. Basically, what happens is that as you get older your eyes, like everything else, just won’t bend as well anymore. Because of this, your eye cannot accommodate (the term for the lens in your eye contracting progressively as things move closer in than approx. 20 feet) as much. So very close objects cannot be brought into focus on the retina. Lasik does not correct this or prevent it. I suppose, in theory, if you could keep your lens flexible it would not happen. But one of the reasons your lens becomes increasingly rigid is because while your eye stops increasing in size in your early 20s (which is why your eyesight tends to stabilize in college no matter what your diet, eye motions, or sex life is like) the cells in your lens keep splitting until a couple days after death.

Today most eye problems are myopic in nature, which may be caused by excessive sugar during your youth and a number of other environmental conditions. There is no inherent reason why any of our children will have a problem, genetics predispose eye problems but they do not cause them.

I had a very strong myopia and a strong astigmatism (technically referred to as a compound myopic astigmatism), but had it completely corrected by Lasik. Best thing I ever wasted my money on.

  • Benjamin Shender (actually a certified optician, if it matters to anyone)
#13

I’m pretty sure if you ditch the glasses, your eyesight should improve. Seriously, when you wear glasses, your eyesight only gets worse. It’s one of those things (like ‘treatable’ but not ‘curable’ diseases) that society uses to keep you paying the bills. I’ve also heard there were programs out there on the interweb designed to naturally heal eyes. You should google search natural eye repair, or something like that. Sorry for the lack of specifics…

#14

But how does eyesight get bad in the first place? And if I stop wearing glasses, do I still need to avoid doing certain things that will worsen my eyes?

I’ve worn glasses (and for about 5 years in high school, contacts) since I was 7. I always assumed that it was because I did too much reading in the dark as a kid, when I was supposed to be trying to fall asleep.

#15
And if I stop wearing glasses, do I still need to avoid doing certain things that will worsen my eyes?

One of the worst things you can do is eat a bad diet. Eat tons and tons of vegetables, fruit, and seafood. One recent study showed that foods rich in omega 3 and a few essential vitamins, especially seafood, actually led to improvement of vision in later life.

#16

humans work together, so what if you don’t have good eyesight, it only takes one shot to take down enough food to feed twenty. granted, fucked up eyesight is a side effect of our degenerate culture… but it doesn’t matter.

what i mean is there is more than enough room in a small community for ditch diggers, not everyone has to be sharp sighted as an eagle.

shit, even if you have 20/20 vision, doesn’t mean you can shoot for shit.

#17

One of the worst things you can do is eat a bad diet. Eat tons and tons of vegetables, fruit, and seafood. One recent study showed that foods rich in omega 3 and a few essential vitamins, especially seafood, actually led to improvement of vision in later life.[/quote]
Wow, that’s pretty cool.

#18

Holy crap. That explains a lot.

#19

Another paleo-diet personal miracle Willem? :slight_smile:

#20

Haha. I guess so! Getting there, anyway.