Meet Grok
The Definitive Guide to Grok
He’s the oft-cited star of our Paleolithic backdrop, the poster-persona of the Primal Blueprint itself. We would be remiss (and a little rude, don’t you think?) to overlook formal introductions. “It’s about time!” some of you might be saying to yourselves. Let’s meet the man of the eon!
First off, he is simultaneously his own person/personality (incidentally male) and an inclusive, non-gendered representative of all our beloved primal ancestors (male or female who spanned the primeval globe). It’s Grok as both construed individual and collective archetype, you might say. In either capacity, Grok serves as our primal exemplar, a figurative model for evolutionarily tried and true lifestyle behaviors: diet, exercise, sleep, stress, etc. And, as Mark’s Daily Apple itself has evolved over the last few years, we’ve grown quite attached to him, you might say. A likeable fellow, really, who, incidentally, also has a charming family – a strong, resourceful wife and two healthy children (a young boy and infant girl).
Grok, as we have come to know and love him, is a rather typical hunter-gatherer. He hearkens from, say, the San Joaquin Valley of (now) California. Born before the dawn of agriculture, he lives the life of a forager – hunting game and gathering all manner of roots, shoots, seeds and fruits for both himself and his family/small band. He’s perhaps 30 years old, on the upper end of life expectancy in his day, but he has the remarkable health to live far beyond that if he can avoid the traps of his time: accidents, predators, illness – far different threats than ours today.
You see, by modern standards, he would be the pinnacle of physiological vigor. Picture a tall, strapping man: lean, ripped, agile, even big-brained (by modern comparison). And as for what’s underneath? An enviable workup: low/no systemic inflammation, low insulin and blood glucose readings, healthy (i.e. ideally functional) cholesterol and triglyceride levels. “Hmm,” you say, closing your menu. “I’ll have what he’s having.”
And what would that be exactly? Hardly the fare of our modern diet. Wild seeds, grasses, and indigenous nut varieties. Seasonal vegetables and leaves. Roots (once he mastered the art of cooking). Berries and other fruits when they were available. Meats and fish whenever he could get them: small animals like rabbit and squirrel as well as occasional big game like bear, bison, deer, and mammoth. Grok and his clan knew a good thing when they had it. No wasteful, finicky butchering methods here. Everything remotely edible was eaten: organs, muscle, marrow.
Grok, to be sure, works hard for his dinner. Chasing game has made him a solid, nimble sprinter. Regular foraging (for food and firewood, etc.) as well as the occasional necessary migrations have developed impressive physical endurance. The obligatory lifting, hauling, and building of primal life have made him tough and burly. Regular exposure to the elements has made him robust and resilient.
But in spite of all of this, he leads a life of relative peace, consistent rhythm, adequate sleep, little stress. There are times of scarcity, to be sure, but his body is adapted to generally weather their strain. There are the physical threats of predators, but he has the savvy and fitness to usually avoid these. On his side are the biochemical capabilities to, by and large, handle the demands of his day: a fine-tuned, selected-for orchestration of hormonal release and up-regulation that works efficiently for day-to-day activities and surges into action for necessary crises.
Lucky for him, his diet and activity supported those physiological processes. As hard as he worked for his food, he gained an optimum compilation of omega-3 rich protein, unpolluted fats, and peak antioxidants (those wild varieties of fruits and veggies, as opposed to watered down cultivated versions we moderns usually eat). The intermittent shortages activated subtle but powerful up-regulating mechanisms that could typically keep him healthy until the next feast could be earned. His efforts in obtaining sustenance and maintaining basic shelter and security healthily challenged his cardiovascular system, built his muscles, strengthened his bones and bolstered his immune system. The primal life demanded a steady balance of sprinting, weight lifting and nearly constant low level labor.
And stress? Life in his era might be called short and brutish, but we think that’s not the full story. Laborious, yes. Taxing, yes. Precarious, yes. Strenuous and at times perilous, but not defined by the chronic stress to which we moderns often find ourselves chained. Grok and his kind – by necessity – lived primarily in the moment addressing this need, this meal, this danger. It was a life of simple sustenance, but he lived and worked within a family and tribe to share the load. And in between these efforts, he was also free to live, rest and enjoy his own moments of peace walking by a river or sitting by the fire. A short life? For most, yes. A brutish life? Some of the time. But Grok’s life, for all its uncertainty and simplicity, also offered the basic human enjoyments of happiness, family, quiet, even beauty. As arduous as Grok and his clan’s life was, there was a certain freedom in living for daily sustenance rather than for future acquisition. As imminent as death might have been in his world, it’s also true that those of his era rarely lived a day in ill-health.
And that is a glimpse of our good man Grok, official primal prototype – his life, his practices, his physiology, his disposition. How different our lives seem in comparison. But how possible the lessons for health. The artless health of his day fused with the know-how and the plenty of ours. (Grok couldn’t have imagined it so good.) Grok’s guide, our gain – what the PB is all about. Thanks, dude.
Have your thoughts on the primal personage? Grok thanks you for your support. “It’s good to be among friends….”
Further Reading:
Did Grok Really Eat that Much Meat?
Would Grok Chow the Cheese Plate?
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
mike –
It sure is. As long as there aren’t any major hiccups things are still planned for April. In fact if the stars align both the book and redesign of this site may end up being launched even earlier – maybe mid-March. Thanks for the interest, mike!
Cheers!
To grok (pronounced /ˈgrɒk/) is to share the same reality or line of thinking with another physical or conceptual entity.
Author Robert A. Heinlein coined the term in his best-selling 1961 book Stranger in a Strange Land. In Heinlein’s view of quantum theory, grokking is the intermingling of intelligence that necessarily affects both the observer and the observed.
From the novel:
“ Grok means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed—to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It means almost everything that we mean by religion, philosophy, and science—and it means as little to us (because of our Earthly assumptions) as color means to a blind man. ”
The Oxford English Dictionary defines grok as “to understand intuitively or by empathy; to establish rapport with” and “to empathize or communicate sympathetically (with); also, to experience enjoyment.” Other forms of the word include “groks” (present third person singular), “grokked” (past participle) and “grokking” (present participle).
In an ideological context, a grokked concept becomes part of the person who contributes to its evolution by improving the doctrine, perpetuating the myth, espousing the belief, adding detail to the social plan, refining the idea or proofing the theory.
the fact that it is the only image ever to show up in the home screen of google reader means its a keeper for me!
*grunt*
Curious, we’ll be detailing much of this in the forthcoming book. Meanwhile, interesting to note that in early grain-based societies, life expectancy dropped to 18. Plus, stature decreased, as did bone density. Much more to come…
We need a Grokette !!
OK, although I think that the Paleo Diet is a generally good idea, there are a LOT of assumptions in this “Grok” creation.
1) “You see, by modern standards, he would be the pinnacle of physiological vigor. Picture a tall, strapping man: lean, ripped, agile, even big-brained (by modern comparison).”
If you look at modern counterparts to this supposed Grok, (somebody posted a good link: http://www.amazon-indians.org/index.html),
they are not all
a) tall, in fact the average non-Grok is probably taller, maybe due to all the growth hormones in our beef and other meats, nor are they all
b) ripped, although none of them are morbidly obese, their “ripped-ness”, God I hate that term, does not quite live up to your hype.
“But in spite of all of this, he leads a life of relative peace, consistent rhythm, adequate sleep, little stress. There are times of scarcity, to be sure, but his body is adapted to generally weather their strain. There are the physical threats of predators, but he has the savvy and fitness to usually avoid these. On his side are the biochemical capabilities to, by and large, handle the demands of his day: a fine-tuned, selected-for orchestration of hormonal release and up-regulation that works efficiently for day-to-day activities and surges into action for necessary crises.”
Relative peace? Relative to what? Certainly not relative to what most people in modern civilization consider normal. Unless you are living in Baghdad, Darfur, or some other warzone/shantytown, your life is a hell of a lot more peaceful than Grok’s. I understand that living in this comfy setting can make us long for the zest of adventure, danger, etc. of an existence in the wilderness but it is likely a case of biting off more than you can chew, or the grass being greener on the other side of the fence. Once placed in such a precarious and unforgiving environment, I suspect one would quickly want out and to return to cushy old civilization. That’s probably why Grok eventually domesticated animals and began the whole agriculture thing.
“And stress? Life in his era might be called short and brutish, but we think that’s not the full story. Laborious, yes. Taxing, yes. Precarious, yes. Strenuous and at times perilous, but not defined by the chronic stress to which we moderns often find ourselves chained.”
Not knowing where, if or when your next meal is coming day in, day out would qualify as chronic stress, wouldn’t you say? What about not knowing if the neighbouring tribe is going to come attack you and take your wife as a trophy or take your kids for slaves/concubines? Just a thought.
All in all, I do think that eating as our bodies have more or less been “designed for”, yes bad terminology, but whatever, is a good idea, but to elevate “Grok”-style living is a little overboard.
Feel free to chime in.
George, you make some interesting points. Note first that “modern Groks” you cite are not necessarily exemplary of 10,000 year-old ancestors. We don’t really refer to modern Groks here that often. There are very few true hunter-gatherer societies left on earth. Many of the South American and African tribes have become quasi horticulturalists or pastoralists as a result of having been forced by civilization into increasingly smaller spaces. That has certainly affected their growth and stature.
Grok’s people in northern climates grew to probably the same height as an average person today (We like to think Grok himself was a little above average – hence use of the term tall. But we’ll agree that he wasn’t taller than today’s average tall guy). Stature declined for thousands of years after him as agriculture took root. All the literature indicates that Grok was more muscular or “robust” than today’s average person. To us “ripped” means a decent amount of mass and low body fat – not excessive body-builder muscle.
As for stress, we can’t truly “know” that he had lower stress because we can’t measure it. But we can surmise that his stress-response system wasn’t nearly as overly taxed the way ours is today (Robert Sapolsky’s book “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers” is a great resource in that subject). We think it was Grok (not a New Yorker) who first coined the phrase “yo, it is what it is…” Stuff happened and he just dealt with it.
Mark
Mark,
Perhaps “modern Groks” aren’t NECESSARILY exemplary of 10,000 year old ancestors, some might be. At the very least, they are more exemplary of them than city-dwellers, country-farmers, etc. While are are very few hunter-gatherer societies left on Earth (by the way if anyone has any informative or interesting links on this topic, please post them), of those that are left we can’t say “Oh, they aren’t as physically robust as I thought they would be (Conan the Barbarian, perhaps), so they must not be exemplary of “real” Groks. I understand that there are probably important clues from the fossil record in regards to skull thickness bone mass, density, height, etc., so I could be proven completely wrong. As far as height goes, from all that I’ve read (granted, maybe not an extensive list by any means) modern humans are taller than our ancient Grok forefathers, from way before agriculture took root.
Again I may be spewing nonsense, since I have not read “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers” , but maybe Zebras don’t get ulcers because they get eaten before they have a chance to develop them. Or perhaps their brains aren’t developed enough to contemplate and worry about the future the way humans do. True, some animals may “plan” for the future by gathering enough nuts for the winter, or hibernating through winter, but humans worry about a time frame far beyond just the next winter. If humans were “freed” of our modern trappings of desk jobs, mortgage payments, yadda, yadda, and went to live in the wilderness a la Grok-style, we may see a radical drop in deaths caused by chronic stress-related illnesses, but we would also see a radical increase in deaths caused by animal maulings, malnutrition due to not being able to effectively compete for food, exposure to the elements, and who knows what else. And someone who survived long enough may just end up dying of those built-up chronic stress-related factors. Or they may not, simply because they are very healthy and fit individuals (as evidenced by the very fact that they survuved all those dangers and challenges).
“We think it was Grok (not a New Yorker) who first coined the phrase “yo, it is what it is…” Stuff happened and he just dealt with it.”
Perhaps, but this surely isn’t confined only to Groks. There are modern humans who take this attitude to life and also live relatively stress-free. And not all humans or Groks were the same. There must have been some who did have chronic stress problems. In our cousins, the apes, chronic stress is more prevalent than one would think.
Link to “Emotional Stress in Monkeys”:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=FaKoVOxNa9EC&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=monkeys+chronic+stress&source=bl&ots=8us-sITEhz&sig=l1SVFfqq3LMvGui6dtYT_X8HJhk&hl=en&ei=xlmTSeObBZC8MuGtnfsL&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPP8,M1
I haven’t read the whole thing (just started), but if you start reading it, it may shed some light on some notions about Grok.
Please feel free to comment.
Dear George,
Why are you bothering commenting on this page if you have read absolutely nothing about studies on pre-agricultural humans? There’s this little known site around called Google, use it.
Cro-Magnon Europeans actually DID look like Conan the Barbarian, They had an average height of 6+ foot, large brains with large robust bones and strong musculature. Their height and brain size DECLINED and disease increased after agriculture was introduced.
Also the idea that we only developed introspection 3000 years ago is a joke. Cro-Magnons buried their dead ritually with jewelry and tools/weapons. They also had impressive cave art, calendars, carvings etc.
I am hereby going to aspire to be a Grokette!!!
We had a Grok around recently:
“Ishi (ca. 1860 – March 25, 1916) was the pseudonym of the last member of the Yahi, in turn the last surviving group of the Yana people of California. Ishi is believed to be the last Native American in Northern California to have lived most of his life completely outside the European American culture. He emerged from the wild near Oroville, California, leaving his ancestral homeland in the foothills near Lassen Peak.
Ishi means “man” in Yana, which was the name Alfred Kroeber gave him when he discovered Ishi had never been given a name. When asked his actual name, he said: “I have none, because there were no people to name me,” meaning that no tribal ceremony had been performed”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishi
Any chance of a Grok/Grokette t-shirt for ladies? Grok with a ponytail or a dress? I would wear it!
the Maya, Inca, Aztec societies of Central & South America were NOT hunter-gatherers. PLus, they were HIGHLY urbanized!!
the Cro-Magnons may have been cool, but not cool enough. They were pushed into extinction by the newcomers.
“the Cro-Magnons may have been cool, but not cool enough. They were pushed into extinction by the newcomers.” I think you’re getting them mixed up with Neanderthals. Cromagnons become modern Europeans(with some admixture with farmers from the middle east).
As for body shape, the skulls and teeth of modern humans have gotten smaller and less robust over the last 50,000 years. Ditto with muscles attachments and bone density. The coming of agriculture sped up the process. Early farmers were shorter and weaker than late hunter gatherers. I would also agree with Alan about the precolumbian cultures. They were as or more urbanised as Europeans. Very complex societies. Plus many of the hunter gatherers in the amazon basin were farmers not so long ago. Evidence of widespread agriculture can be found there today in the “black earth” deposits. So many of the “stoneage” tribes today were farmers 1000 years ago.
I would also agree with another poster above that said we havent stopped evolving since then. More gene changes have happened in the last 10,000 yrs than in the previous 40,000. Mostly to do with novel and local food. Most huntergatherers would be intolerant to gluten and lactose and alcohol. EG People from India would be more lactose intolerant than europeans as milk products are found in much smaller quantities. Alcohol is an obvious one. Look at the damage that has wreaked in many older cultures when introduced. The native Americans and Australians good examples. Many Asian people cant metabolise alcohol the way most Europeans can.
So while broadly speaking a paleo diet looks like a good plan, its far more complex than that. Our biggest evolutionary advantage is our ability to eat what comes our way. Lose the obvious boogy men like sugar and pretty much anything to do with processed corn, eat more meat and fish and eggs and a wide selection of fruit and veg with some olive oil. Throw in a glass of red wine if you can tolerate it.
Though I would agree that more HIIT exercise is better than running on a treadmill for dear life.
I found this site back in the first of the year i think its awesome.I started eating like a caveman working out quit drinking and have lost 15 pounds so far.I like the grok logo i would love a t shirt to show i’m a part of something thats a big part of the way I live.grok makes me want to leave the gun at home on the next hunt
This was the part of The Primal Blueprint I had the most problem with. There are some studies cited for the fat/cholesterol/heart disease links, etc…. but none of the claims about our pre-agricultural lifestyle, the basis for the Grok character, ever had any sort of endnotes. On the basis of what studies/books/articles/etc was this character and life created?
Came here after a search to see if skipping a meal once a week was bad for me. I just did by accident last night and I’m not hungry yet this morning. Pfft. And I’ve been wasting time exercising all these years.
Anyway… I never knew there were people in California that long ago. Eye-opening. For some reason Irish me thought they arrived relatively recently, ie within the last couple of thousand years.
Interesting. Love the concept of the book, but I’m only a caveman when it comes to my attitudes to women.
It was nice to meet Grok, he was wise, fit and healthy.
Why is that as I my hairline recedes and birthdays creep up faster and faster I too feel myself becoming more and more like Grok.
And my wife is also finding more clean cutlery and crockery on the table after I finish my meals.
Oh dear, this is too close to the bone…
love Grok, and what he stands for… just introduced him to my readers at http://www.njpaleogirl.com!
I have always had a similar outlook on nutrition but never based it on evolution. I just feel that we need eat things as close as possible to how God made them. If you gotta grind it, stew it, ferment it, and preserve it, maybe it ain’t so good.
Also, I have searched a few posts on Grok and legumes? Good to go? Or no, no, no?
Hi Grok!! The Grok logo looks like he is leaping between two sections of land or between large rocks with effortless agility…or running in to spear Conventional Wisdom and its idiotic, false, misleading, corrupt, harmful, and “traditional”….ness…lol I didn’t know how else to finish that statement up :p. But Grok I strive to have a killer body like you with all the fixins(the physical attribute, perfect health, better functioning brain etc). Hugh Jackman in Wolverine…maybe not quiiite as much muscle, but let’s see how far the genes take me along with the PB lifestyle!! Primal Blueprint, not Peanut Butter haha, but u guys know what I mean.
I have been reading with avidity and delight about the Paleo/primal etc diets… As a long time lover of Anthropology and Food, it’s fun to see my two loves married in such a fun way…
But I have one question about Grok.. His diet doesn’t seem to fit much into what a Grok from where I originally hailed from would have been eating… Is it at all possible that different Groks from different geographical areas evolved on slightly different diets?
My ancestors most likely ate a lot of starch heavy tubers that grow without being cultivated (Cassava being one example) and ate plenty of fish and other fruits (avocados, mangoes, etc) who didn’t need agriculture to thrive… and managed to survive in the Serengeti etc… Could they be considered Groks? Or is Grok a certain prototypical Paleo Homo Sapien hailing from a specific region of the globe?
An Inquiring Mind wants to know.
The paragraph about stress is particularly pollyannaish. I doubt the “simple pleasure” of foraging for food offsets the reality of infant mortality, infection, pain, starvation, etc.
It reeks of the naturalistic fallacy and misplaced sentimentality.
Agreed! Starvation, infection, or being eaten by an animal doesn’t sound like the best ways to go. It must have been pretty sad & stressful to see your friends and family die that way too.
The diet seems good on its own, no need to convince us all by using a cheesy backstory about a caveman.
Great post however , I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this topic? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Thank you!
if you could elaborate a little bit further. Thank you!
love the article, though i think it’s a bit misleading, if still a step in the right direction, as compared with most people’s perceptions of how our ancestors lived.
the idea that our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived short, brutish lives, constantly on the “knife’s edge” of survival has been pretty thoroughly debunked.
the latest research suggests, rather, that hunter-gatherers were the “Original Affluent Society”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_affluent_society
also, most research suggests that the short life expectancy attributed to our paleolithic ancestor’s lives is mostly due to infant mortality:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy#Life_expectancy_variation_over_time
finally, considering our ancestor’s daily lives consisted mostly of ethnic TRIBAL, rather than FAMILY, groups, most researchers suspect they had very little to fear from predators; even a pack of wild dogs flees in the face of a well-organized group of a human tribe’s hunters.
“…and an inclusive, non-gendered representative of all our beloved primal ancestors (male or female who spanned the primeval globe)…”
What I didn’t know about Grok is that he was an indoctrinated frightened-to-death victim of Cultural Marxism. Excuse me Mark, I definitely respect you and your site, but that line is utterly pathetic. If you find it necessary, develop some Grokette, but please, avoid this sort of repulsive crap. Really.
What makes modern humans so amazing is the ability to adapt. Our entire modern society is built around avoiding the common causes of death of our “Grok” ancestor, and it all works for the most part. We’re just at a point now where we need to find balance between technology and tradition. Unfortunately the current US culture is lacking any sensible traditional diet like anything in the Mediterranean, Asia, etc. so it’s great that this is something people are using to fill that gap. It would be great to see more farmer’s markets, butcher shops, etc. opening up around the country and see a reduction in the laboratory-made, food-like substances being stocked in grocery stores.
If we’re going to get sentimental about this Grok guy, I’d love to see something about how “Grok” lives in harmony with the environment. Also, despite hunting and eating animals, he has a great respect for them. Don’t forget about all those ritualistic sacrificial ceremonies he probably had!
This is part of what’s missing in modern human thought, the idea that we’re all dependent on each other for survival and we depend on the earth to support us– without that we have nothing.
Why is Grok a sprinter if we evolved as persistence hunters?