Self-sufficiency

[Neto]

I would say that it stops 'getting better' (socially) when the population gets to the point that the members of the society no longer know everyone else, and also no longer depend on the others in some way or another. (That is, when there are 'total strangers' within the group.)

That would be a rather small size, right about the Dunbar number, right?

I haven't followed that conversation, so I don't know. Physical isolation encourages this inter-dependency. While in-group violence is not completely eliminated in a non-Christian environment, a small tribal society largely MUST restrain those sins to maintain peaceful co-existence. (Usually accomplished through religious mores and social peer pressure. It can be a sort of 'life in a bottle', but it generally works better than does a larger society where some sort of police force is necessary.) In the case of the Banawa, Christianity naturally made all of this easier, as drunkenness and the spousal violence that had been the impetus for much of the social conflict became a thing of the past. (The brother-sister relationship being the core social value in the culture resulted in drunken fights between brothers-in-law, where one man was protecting his sister against her husband.)

[Neto]

Does anyone hold to a moral position on "self sufficiency?"

It is in conflict with Christianity.

I agree. Jesus taught sharing. Feeding the 5,000. Taking care of your neighbors. The good Samaritan.

This is a good point. The Gospel is not to be held only within one's in-group. So spiritually, self-sufficiency as a small isolated group is contrary to the commands of Christ.