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It is strange reading this - 330 generations ago, the entire world was communist. This began fading away, whereas nowadays only a few people live like this, de
by imbokodo 8y ago
It is strange reading this - 330 generations ago, the entire world was communist. This began fading away, whereas nowadays only a few people live like this, deep in the Amazon and in other out of the way places. So it was a very natural state of human history from now back to the beginning, and the only way from 330 generations to the beginning.
Whereas the seeds of a capitalist society are at most 20 generations old. The news is full of talk of the royal wedding in the UK - officially ruled by the monarch. The United Kingdom is de jure a feudal kingdom still, if not de facto (I do not mean the UK still is de facto feudal, but that it is a sign of how recent this all is that, de jure, the UK is de jure feudal).
It's strange that such a recent phenomenon, with all its crises and such can be seen as the only way aligned with human nature, whereas one existing from the beginning is described as utopian.
- rascul 8y agoCould you use something like years instead of generations? It's not clear what time periods you're referring to.
- jonathanyc 8y agoProbably referring to forager societies pre agriculture.
- rascul 8y agoI suspect that as well, but I see estimates for generations ranging from 20 years to over 100. While it's quite far back in time either way, there's up to 10s of thousands of years difference.
- imbokodo 8y agoThese events are determined by things like the reproduction of labor, not Earth's solar orbits, which is why a generational timeline is more apropos. Also we have data from a variety of sources, but do not know the exact day when the first person was enslaved in the Fertile Crescent. That aside, I mean right before 10000 years ago, before concepts like slavery, class, surplus etc. began their rise. All human society then were in traveling hunter-gatherer bands.
- lsc 8y ago>It is strange reading this - 330 generations ago, the entire world was communist. This began fading away, whereas nowadays only a few people live like this, deep in the Amazon and in other out of the way places. We could argue about this all day and not come to real conclusions. My belief about pre-history is that you were ruled by physical strength, not consent of the governed. I'd call it feudal, but it wasn't that organized, just your local strongman (or local charismatic person) getting... well, whatever you and your friends couldn't prevent them from taking. Of course, I have no more evidence for my theory than for yours.
- krzyk 8y agoCould you give sources? It is hard for me to believe that 330 generations ago there was no one that wanted more than the others in his group.
- kleer001 8y agoHow vague. Generations? Most people use a thing called "years" and refer to specific and well established epochs of human history and geography, like, say 2600 years ago in Mycenaean Greece.
- briga 8y ago>It is strange reading this - 330 generations ago, the entire world was communist I'm sorry but this is a fairy tale view of human nature. People have always been selfish and have formed into dominance heirarchies. All you have to do is look at chimpanzee social behavior to see that unequal, heirarchical societies have been around for at least millions of years. True communism has never existed on a wide scale in human societies.