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I don't think theres one simple conclusion to this ongoing general question of pre-history vs modernity but I remember coming across the infanticide and geriatr
by pkdpic 3y ago
I don't think theres one simple conclusion to this ongoing general question of pre-history vs modernity but I remember coming across the infanticide and geriatricide rates in pre-agricultural societies (not that they were / are all the same) at some point and having it complicate my thinking pretty drastically.
I believe it was in here, its a quick interesting read in any case.
http://public.gettysburg.edu/~dperry/Class%20Readings%20Scanned%20Documents/Intro/Diamond.PDF http://public.gettysburg.edu/~dperry/Class%20Readings%20Scan...
- Aunche 3y ago> The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race I'm sure the people invented agriculture didn't think of it as a mistake. It's not like they decided that they liked eating cultivated grass seeds more than wild nuts and mammoth steaks. They did so because that's what they had available.
- melolife 3y agoThe general argument is that if you are a proto-government/warlord/gangster, you want to encourage/coerce your subjects into agriculture as the output is easily taxed and stored. This turns out to be wildly successful for creating large hierarchical societies, which in turn forces their neighbors to do the same to survive.
- hef19898 3y agoSo, lobsters have undersea farms?
- Aunche 3y agoThe people who resorted to eating cultivated grass seeds had more imminent problems to worry about before ambitions about being warlords. That occurred a few thousand years later. > which in turn forces their neighbors to do the same to survive Until gunpowder, tribal societies were at least a strong as their hierarchical contemporaries. The Huns destroyed the Roman Empire and Mongols conquered China.
- Manuel_D 3y agoThe Huns were not hunter gatherers. They were pastoralists that had access to metal work and other manufacturers goods from their sedentary neighbors.
- Aunche 3y agoPastoralism is a logical evolution of hunting after animals became domesticated. My point is that you didn't necessarily need a large hierarchical society to fend off against one.
- Manuel_D 3y agoThe Huns and Mongols absolutely did have large hierarchical societies, though. The Mongol army had a decimal system organizing forces into groups of 10, 100, 1,000, and 10,000 men. This is about as explicitly hierarchical as it gets.