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Thats an overly vague line of thinking by which the CPU can be said to be invented by the Neanderthals because "someone must have though of it". Even in ancient

by return0 11y ago

Thats an overly vague line of thinking by which the CPU can be said to be invented by the Neanderthals because "someone must have though of it". Even in ancient athenian democracy egalitarianism was not a thing: only "the chosen" landowning male native citizens had a say in collective decision making. If anything egalitarianism probably became a thing since the french revolution.

deleted 11y ago
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calibraxis 11y ago
That was a tiny quote from an evidence-laden argument. Google Books sometimes doesn't show this in incognito mode: (https://books.google.com/books?id=99E4aIjgryoC&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=graeber+Why+do+conservatives+insist+that+democracy+was+invented+in+ancient+Greece,+and+that+it+is+somehow+inherent+in+what+they+call&source=bl https://books.google.com/books?id=99E4aIjgryoC&pg=PA183&lpg=...) The reason why soundbites win is because, "The amount of energy necessary to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."
- return0 11y ago
  Reading some pages.. the author seems to be a purist who things terms such as "the west" or "democracy" are problematic because they don't agree with his idea of them. It's also very US-centric. It's worse than i thought...
pessimizer 11y ago
Every dispute every amongst equals is settled by negotiation and a vote. It took no influence from Athens for people to figure that out. > Even in ancient athenian democracy egalitarianism was not a thing: only "the chosen" landowning male native citizens had a say in collective decision making. This is the point. It was a democracy amongst a group of citizens declared to be equal. It wasn't universal, and the fact that equals ultimately cast lots is neither surprising, nor was it granted to the world through Western culture through the Athenians.
- return0 11y ago
  That's very nihilistic. By the same reasoning, nobody ever discovered a law of physics, they were all there. Newton gave nothing to humanity.

by return0 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

calibraxis 11y ago

That was a tiny quote from an evidence-laden argument. Google Books sometimes doesn't show this in incognito mode: (https://books.google.com/books?id=99E4aIjgryoC&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=graeber+Why+do+conservatives+insist+that+democracy+was+invented+in+ancient+Greece,+and+that+it+is+somehow+inherent+in+what+they+call&source=bl https://books.google.com/books?id=99E4aIjgryoC&pg=PA183&lpg=...) The reason why soundbites win is because, "The amount of energy necessary to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."

return0 11y ago
Reading some pages.. the author seems to be a purist who things terms such as "the west" or "democracy" are problematic because they don't agree with his idea of them. It's also very US-centric. It's worse than i thought...

pessimizer 11y ago

Every dispute every amongst equals is settled by negotiation and a vote. It took no influence from Athens for people to figure that out. > Even in ancient athenian democracy egalitarianism was not a thing: only "the chosen" landowning male native citizens had a say in collective decision making. This is the point. It was a democracy amongst a group of citizens declared to be equal. It wasn't universal, and the fact that equals ultimately cast lots is neither surprising, nor was it granted to the world through Western culture through the Athenians.

return0 11y ago
That's very nihilistic. By the same reasoning, nobody ever discovered a law of physics, they were all there. Newton gave nothing to humanity.