Human Nests and ‘Good Enough’ Design

We used to sleep in nests.

All the great apes make nests. All, bar adult gorillas, make them in trees.

The nests of our hunter-gatherer ancestors were ground nests. Half-dome shelters of grass, leafy twigs and branches. These temporary structures were used for resting or sleeping as long as the group stayed in one place and abandoned when the tribe moved on.

In The Old Way, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, describes how these nests offer 'just enough' protection for the Ju/wasi from big cats.

A flimsy nest doesn't look like much protection from a leopard or lion but it addresses the biggest part of the problem. Put simply, it is 'good enough' design.

Cats prefer the rear approach, first studying the victim briefly, then taking him by surprise from a position of advantage. But normally the cat has just one chance to do this and must see the victim clearly from the start. Hence to break through a tshu in hopes of catching something inside is not efficient - there you are with a mouthful of grass while your intended prey wriggles out of your paws and goes scuttling off sounding an alarm and bringing its fellows swarming around you with flaming branches, stones and noise. Your hunt is ruined.

And so when looking to 50,000 years of design ancestry, we can conclude that our design habits are those of making temporary, partial, disposable structures.

Design that does just enough to solve for the threat of our largest predators.

'Good enough' design is design that lasted.

Artist impression from Midjourney.

Sources & Inspiration

• The Old Way, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas