For these farmers, fishermen and hunter-gatherers, life was pretty simple. A typical day constituted waking up in a quaint little cave, eating, hunting, gathering or fishing, getting laid, eating again, and then sleeping.

That is until one day, some pretty creative person got pretty bored and made the first ever rock carving or petroglyph. Archeologist Robert Bednarik described the carvings as small holes pounded into flat rock surfaces. So far, these prehistoric works of art have been discovered in every continent, but Antarctica.

Interestingly however, anthropologists and historians alike are still puzzled by their meaning. (I know the feeling. Have you heard-- or better yet-- not heard John Cage's "4'33"?) They have only uncovered that these rock carvings were a "universal type of public art, and that it often involved a massive physical effort."

But once creativity got its stone rolling, it didn't stop. Engravings, sculpture, cave paintings, relief sculpture, pottery and architecture quickly followed.

So what was the point of all this art, besides giving the first artists something to do?

In his paper, Application of Philosophy of Science in Rock Art Research, Bednarik writes, "I believe that palaeoart is the only major resource at the disposal of science that can tell us something about the processes by which hominids formed their constructs of reality."

Bednarik believes that human culture evolves through "manipulat[ing] the environment," suggesting that art (as it is in any society) becomes an interpretive window into that era's reality. Think about it. Impressionist artists of the 19th century mastered painstakingly small brush strokes to create the illusion of movement, but they also captured the lifestyle of the period. Degas' ballerinas and Renoir's intimate portraits are essentially perfect digital photos of the past-- minus Ashton Kutcher.

For Bednarik, understanding these prehistoric forms of art is imperative "if we are ever to understand our own, present-day construct of reality."

What is our modern reality? Who are the current epoch's artists and innovators? Bill Gates? MTV? Facebook? Rachel Ray?

Notice the difference? Today's creative innovations are not those of ancient history. In the 21st century, new art forms do not reflect a passive commentary on our lives as they did in other art periods. There is no painter illustrating us as we stare at our computer screens eight to 10 hours of the day. In fact, the painter is the computer itself. Art no longer records our culture-- art creates it.

When's the last time you were able to go anywhere without your cell phone? Google maps? Netflix?

Does today's technological and creative culture affect us more than we affect it?

A recent Wake Forest University study on television watching habits found that "increased exposure to television and violence results in greater aggression in children."

The regular quest for good cell phone reception often has the power to control our travel routes and our schedules.

And let's not even mention Facebook-- a site that I have checked 13 times since I began writing this blog.

I wont say the clichéd, "We are slaves to technology" even though I believe it completely.

Some of us, however, are free from the omnipresent "status update."

Apparently, there are a handful of indigenous people around the world who have managed to survive and live without modern necessities such as the iPhone.

But are their lives necessarily worse off because they don't have air conditioning?

Well, a mother from the Sentinelese tribe located in the Adaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, will not likely kill her infant child for crying while she played Farmville.

Probably because the Sentinelese live just as they did 15,000 years ago in homes made out of palm-without even a dialup connection.

These islanders remain hunter-gatherers with a slight penchant for cannibalism (only foreigners, though), according to Marco Polo, who traveled to the Indian subcontinent back in 1296.

For the most part, the Sentinelese do not want to add any new friends. During a 1974 documentary shoot for National Geographic, the crew, along with anthropologists and armed policemen, was greeted by a hail of arrows aimed straight for the jugular.

The crew had planned to "win the natives' friendship by friendly gestures and plenty of gifts." But the natives were not swayed nor impressed by the foreign presents-well-except for the coconuts.

Like Bridget Jones, it seemed that the Sentinelese people liked themselves just as they were and didn't want to be bothered.

It wasn't until 1991, when after nearly two more decades of courting with coconuts, did the Sentinelese finally decide to give modern diplomacy a try.

Indian anthropologist Trilokinath Pandit and his research team officiated the meet and greet-this time without the arrows. Still, even though the Sentinelese had finally warmed up to the outside world, larger questions loom ahead.

For instance, what happens next? The natives have been surviving pretty well up until now: food, water, sex and shelter. According to Pandit, the Sentinelese do not have a Gap store in town and literally have nothing to wear. Visitors must also be in the buff, when in Rome.

There is debate about how soon or whether or not the Sentinelese should be exposed to the world that is hundreds of centuries ahead of their time. When these people are introduced to our modern world with our hairdryers and our American Idol, will they be able to live with these new creations?

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