A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life

by Heather E. Heying

There is an important parable to be invoked here, Chesterton’s fence, named for turn-of-the-20th-century philosopher and writer G. K. Chesterton, the man who first described it. Chesterton’s fence urges caution in making changes to systems that are not fully understood; it is thus a concept related to the Precautionary principle. Chesterton wrote this of a “fence or gate erected across a road”: The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”18 Chesterton wrote this in the same era when some medical doctors had decided that the large intestine was a waste of space in the human body. If Chesterton’s fence suggests that a fence should not be removed until you have discovered something of its function, the appendix and large intestine might be called “Chesterton’s organs.” Keep an eye out for other things that we moderns might be trying to rid ourselves of without sufficiently understanding their function—not only Chesterton’s organs, but his gods and his breast milk, his cuisine and his play.