5 ms·
I found it interesting how the article sets up some ideological traps: it mentions a lack of efficiency, trade value, and so on. But then it explains that the l
by hnbad 3y ago
I found it interesting how the article sets up some ideological traps: it mentions a lack of efficiency, trade value, and so on. But then it explains that the lack of efficiency is required for the increased resilience and that trade value is ultimately meaningless because having a big pile of cash won't save you when nobody else has anything to sell to you. It even takes a moment to pause and double down on telling you that Malthus is just plain wrong.
It actually provides a nice example for a gift economy even in a system that already has money and markets: the solution to crop failures is not to barter by exchanging your non-food belongings for food but to build strong relationships by giving to others when you have plenty so they will share with you when you have little. Communal spaces are only mentioned in passing but it's also easy to see how if an orchard can double as pasture and plots are decentralized, one farm's orchard might be used by another farm for pasture as part of such a relationship.
If you're not already familiar, I would strongly recommend David Graeber's Debt as a very approachable introduction to the idea of gift economies and the myth of barter economies being the precursor to modern money-based trade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years
- hef19898 3y agoI wouldn't go with anthropolgists on the highly complex subject of the history of monetary systems and debt. That field us best left to historians specializing in that question either working with economists or being economists themselves.
- adr1an 3y agoA university degree is just one of the many ways of certifying that you have spent a fair share of time studying a subject. The lack of such certificate shouldn't imply people lack studies, tools, and genuine interest in the matter. Check Graebers career, I wouldn't call him "just an anthropologist with 1 or 2 steps into waters unknown to him".
- hef19898 3y agoJust skipped his wiki page, again, and I don't see anything concerning economics, finance or the history of those. And before I take anyones opinion on a subject as trailblazing or a gold standard, I like to see actual competence in said subject. And yes, that includes actual education and training as well as experience in that particular field. Or experience in adjenct field relevant to the subject, e.g. what Gaerber did with his anthropological view on kingship. That makes for an interesting view, but still not for a gold standard or a leading opinion. And especially history and finance are fields with so much ill understood concepts without proper training, that opinions are just that opinions.
- passwordoops 3y agoI just skipped over to your profile and see no indication of education or formal training in critical thinking. Therefore, by your logic, it's a mistake to take your criticism and references to alternate authors seriously
- hef19898 3y agoI have a wikipedia page and a academic publication profile now? Together with public criticism of my work? Who knew!
- b112 3y agoHmm, "skipped"? This is a usage for perusing text I've honestly never heard before. Don't you mean "skimmed"? Skipped would imply bypassing it. Is this a colloquium, or a typo?
- hef19898 3y agoSkimmed, obviously. Split of toes happen, fourtunately...
- dotancohen 3y agoPerhaps "peruse" would be a better word, both to describe the action and to confuse the reader!
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- truculent 3y agoAny sufficiently advanced historian is indistinguishable from an anthropologist
- dotancohen 3y agoThis is the first time I've seen an adaptation of the phrase, that is actually insightful. Thank you.