Robin Harford I’ve been thinking about situational awareness lately. Not the military jargon kind. I mean the real thing. The awareness that kept our ancestors alive whilst they foraged for food.
It’s about tracking four things: where food is, where danger is, where other people are, and what’s happening inside your own body and mind. Your energy levels. Your focus. Your limits.
All of this guides when to stay, when to move on, and what to do next.
Most recent research looks at modern or virtual foraging tasks. But even so, it tells us something useful about how hunter-gatherers think and act in the world. And that matters, because we’re all still carrying those patterns around in our body/mind.
How people build awareness.
People learn the layout of their surroundings over time. Where food shows up. How quickly it comes back. How reliable each place is.
Because this knowledge is never complete, people often stay too long in one spot. This can lead to overharvesting.
Research shows this isn’t careless behaviour, it’s a sensible response to uncertainty. You don’t know what you don’t know.
As people learn more, their behaviour shifts. Early on, they explore. They move around, test options, gather information. Later, when things feel more predictable, they focus on harvesting what they know works well.
This flexible shift between exploring and exploiting shows up again and again in studies. It’s not random. It’s adaptive.
Humans also “forage in the mind.” We search through memories. We imagine future options. We weigh possible outcomes. These inner searches use the same basic patterns as physical foraging. They support planning, reflection, and self-awareness.
Attention, vigilance, and danger.
Attention strongly shapes how people forage. What we focus on guides how we move and what we choose.
When there’s a risk of attack, attention is split. You must watch for danger whilst still collecting food. This changes how long you stay in one place and what you prioritise.
Being with others reduces this burden. In groups, each person can relax a little. Less time spent scanning for danger. More time foraging.
This mirrors patterns seen in many social animals.
Learning from others and from culture.
Foraging cultures are highly social. Movement patterns often bring people back to shared places. This creates dense networks of contact. Information about food and danger spreads quickly and reliably through these networks.
Over time, this supports the build-up of shared knowledge and skills. It’s cumulative culture, built up generation after generation.
Studies of mushroom foragers show how this works in practice. People develop simple rules of thumb, sharp attention to key details, and strong local knowledge. Much of this skill is hard to explain in words. It’s learned through practice and shared experience.
Stories and folklore play a major role. They pass on detailed knowledge about edible and poisonous species, good locations, and safe techniques.
Stories allow this learning to happen without direct risk. You don’t need to eat the wrong plant to learn it’ll kill you. Someone tells you a story instead.
What this means.
Situational awareness in human foraging grows from several sources working together.
People learn the shape of their environment whilst dealing with uncertainty. They manage attention and vigilance, especially when danger is present. They rely heavily on social learning, stories, and shared knowledge.
Modern experiments line up well with what we see in traditional foraging cultures. Humans are skilled at blending perception, memory, social cues, and cultural knowledge to stay oriented in a changing landscape.
It’s worth thinking about. We live in a world that’s nothing like the one our ancestors foraged in. But the patterns are still there. The way we explore new information. The way we balance risk and reward. The way we learn from stories.
And that’s something to acknowledge and pay attention to.
References
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