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The current pace of technological progress means that you cannot just sit and wait for the crops to grow. You need to constantly be learning a new skill on the
by roncesvalles 2mo ago
The current pace of technological progress means that you cannot just sit and wait for the crops to grow. You need to constantly be learning a new skill on the side, diversifying your income streams, thinking and researching about how to optimize your costs and yields for the following year, etc.
This is because there is no guarantee that you can keep living the same routine till the day you die.
Also, humans are builders. Doing nothing and waiting for the seasons to change like cows in a field might not be in our DNA. Restlessness is our natural state, that's why we have all this stuff.
- 2b3a51 2mo agoInteresting comment, but I'm thinking of the time scales involved. Farming 6 to 8 thousand years ago, simultaneous development in several areas. Before that millennia of hunter-gatherers (with technologies thrown in like stone shaping and metals?). Before that it is millions of years after chimps/bonobos/us diverged. Something accelerated the restlessness, perhaps language?
- Avicebron 2mo ago>Something accelerated the restlessness, perhaps language? Look up David Harvey's work, I think it was less language and more certain economic patterns demanding acceleration.
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- roncesvalles 2mo agoThe time scales are long enough for evolution itself to play out. It's very plausible that the percent of the human gene pool that has the "restless builder" genes simply increased over time. Just consider how much of an advantage being technologically superior gives one party in a war.