• superkret@feddit.org
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    3 days ago

    Farming fed more people.
    More people = more warriors.
    So the hunter-gatherers were conquered by the farmers.
    Farming was the nuclear bomb of the bronze age.
    Either you had it, or you were ruled by those who did.

  • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net
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    3 days ago

    According to The Dawn of Everything, there is evidence of multiple instances where societies developed agriculture and then discarded it.

    • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Well yeah, because it really sucked. Early agrarians were much less healthy, suffering from malnutrition and diseases that hunter-gatherers did not.

      People persisted though. And over ten thousand years they eventually won out. Turns out that being able to store enough food to last all winter is a huge long term advantage. Specialization was an even greater advantage (that also took millennia to develop).

      And the issue with trying to put the genie back in the bottle is that if one group left that money on the table another group would come along and pick it up.

    • rabber@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      I mean agriculture is what enabled humans to take over the earth and then destroy it. Before that we were actually part of the food chain. At this point we would have to abandon it to save the human race otherwise mother nature will clean us up and forget about us.

  • ahornsirup@feddit.org
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    3 days ago

    And penicillin. I’ll gladly take the microplastics and credit scores if that’s the price to pay.

    • arrow74@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      Ironically we don’t see much evidence of infectious disease in hunter gatherers. Now of course this only talks about those diseases we see evidence of in bones, but until we started keeping livestock and living in large close groups there doesn’t seem to have been much.

      Obviously there still was disease. You’re never going to be able to find evidence of an infected wound or pneumonia in the skeletal remains, but the big killers like smallpox, measels, leprosy, etc. don’t develop until later.

      Of course for those humans in environments that supported mosquitos malaria was still a huge problem.

  • potoo22@programming.dev
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    3 days ago

    “We had a good harvest this year. Way too much for us to use. I wonder if our neighbors would be willing to part with some of their excess pelts if we gave them…”

    NEW ACHIEVEMENT

    Commerce
    You have something I want, and I have something you want. A fairly simple exchange can’t possibly get out of hand, right? RIGHT?!

    Reward
    Capitalism will ensure you never live a peaceful life. Not that you had a peaceful life before. Let’s just say your descendants will be forced into labor if they simply want to have shelter.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Capitalism will ensure you never live a peaceful life.

      Isn’t a big allure of capitalism the kind-of comfort trap of desiring modern amenities enough to voluntarily engage with the industrial system?

      Also, any proper Marxist is going to tell you that capitalism is a fundamental stepping stone to post-scarcity utopian communism. Capitalist mode of production generates the surpluses necessary for the kind of leisure enjoyed by a professional managerial class that ultimately forms a socialist bureaucracy. You don’t get your libraries and your hospitals and your trains without a pivot to capitalism.

      Also, anyone who has done the proper deep wilderness style campaign can tell you that its anything but peaceful. You’re exposed to the elemental whims, your livelihood is predicated on ecological changes beyond your comprehension much less control, and you lack some really fundamental human achievements like modern language, art, and music. Hell, you might not even enjoy the benefit of simple machines like the screw or the wheel.

      And that’s not even the really attractive achievements. Ask anyone with advanced tetanus or glaucoma how many years of restaurant work they’d be willing to endure for medical relief.

      • potoo22@programming.dev
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        3 days ago

        I mean, find a nice piece of land, build your shelter, no one bothers you about property tax or reports you to the HOA. Maybe a land ownership dispute, but even if you lose, as long as you live past that, you can setup somewhere else.

        • sunflowercowboy@feddit.org
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          3 days ago

          Well you’re forgetting being born, having to endure growing up if you got lucky, hoping you maybe got sold to a higher family. At that point you might as well just stay in your luxury of kings for the common folk.

          Where are you going to gather the lumber from? Are you going to build the tools too? Smelt your iron? Pan for it first? Whered you get a pan?

          Notice how you said ‘as long as you can live’ when that’s not a huge concern right now. Spoiled is spoiled, but dense is something else.

          • bestagon@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            Capitalism doesn’t free us from any of that, community does. It’s standing on the shoulders of giants and advancing our understanding of the world that saves infants and puts food on tables. Not people who own the tools skimming off the top from the people that do the work

            • sunflowercowboy@feddit.org
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              2 days ago

              Capitalism =/= Money

              Money is the only fair way to compensate your time. That is the metric that is used because if actual work gets compensated it skews riches to able bodied, young, etc.

              The systems in place are bad, but complete abandon is too. That is why talking of reform in the public forum is pertinent. Destruction without creation is just wicked.

              If you talk about giants, what did the bible add in value to humans? Im curious as to your insight, genuinely.

              • bestagon@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                I think communities can just take care of each other. Bakers make bread, plumbers lay pipe, gardeners sow plants and those that love each other make sure they’re taken care of. You wouldn’t be able to be an asshole that just takes from the world around you because nobody would have a reason to make sure your water is running. Your time is compensated by a social contract

                • sunflowercowboy@feddit.org
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                  2 days ago

                  It’s not that simple, people don’t inherently want to work together because humans are in themselves dangerous. You can already do this, money and capitalism doesnt stop you or anyone. (Good Samaritan)

                  Money just facilitates the saving and passage because structurally before corporations it was meant to be about family structure. It’s why all big corps want to replace your family and want to separate you from your actual being. (Spirited Away)

                  My time is compensated by the idea that I can store it phisically. Money isn’t the problem, it’s tech. It outsources jobs and redirects massive ammounts of cashflow. Along with making you compete universally rather than in your own local area. It isn’t bad but it can become much worse.

                  Most folks dont have their own physical money anymore. It’s in a bank, a number on a number. Direct deposit means you never have to stress yourself, or own yourself. Ai at some point will be able to speculate on groceries and change the cost routinely. Like walgreen’s digital display fridge, went away due to cost upkeep - but it’ll return.

                  Keep blaming money for scientific progress and how man uses it. People hate money, yet they dont understand the basic processes that permeate their existance. You are built on the legacy of millions of people, thousands of years, and constant turmoil. Yet you desire to return to further suffering? When you cannot even handle the wanting of this one?

                  Suffer your pain, overcome it. Stop wishing for pain unknown, unenviable and yet you wish the uncertainty of basic life.

                  I say this as someone who so to yearns for such a time. Who’s brother was a runaway and lived the life I wish I had. Sadly, I have love and kindness, structure to support and if I too run - who will tend the flame?

                  The only way to return is through also relinquishing any and all comfort you are assured. No one stops you - but your want. Instead temper it for the greater of humanity, not for the betterment of your emotional quandaries. We have a tomorrow guaranteed today, that is a luxury of society - debt is the reliance in others.

                • sunflowercowboy@feddit.org
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                  2 days ago

                  Those that turn away from truth must be invited, invigorated, and witness.

                  We can learn from all, but one must first want. So leave the door open, let them hear your joy and passion. Let them envy and soon they too shall be at the table.

                  We all want to escape pain, no one will ever understand it except you. It is like spirit, deeply personal and interconnected with you - however cannot be unbound. All have it and dxperience it, but only you know what the pain has formed.

                  My pain has formed me and I would like to reduce it for others by carrying more. It is the only thing I can do.

        • Zron@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          The not getting mauled by wildlife and having medical professionals able to come to my house if I break my leg is kinda nice tho.

  • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    But seriously, thinking about a species-appropriate lifestyle for humans, since we can’t seem to keep societies stable, resulting in environment destruction, death and suffering.

    Considering that we have a background in 100 - 150 people communities, maybe the ting/ding of ancient germans is the most ideal we can get.

    • TheOakTree@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      There is a subsection of people in those that “don’t pay their debts” that can be described as “can’t pay their debts,” usually facilitated by the system.

      • ObjectivityIncarnate@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        That’s not relevant.

        Whether you don’t pay your debts by choice or not, the fact remains that not paying them demonstrates that you are risky to lend to. It makes perfect sense for people to not want to lend you more money if you didn’t pay back what you borrowed before.

        Downvote all you like, but that’s the fact of the matter. Getting rid of credit scores will change nothing for people who don’t repay their debts, but it will harm those who do, because good borrowers won’t be able to prove that they have a history of repaying their debts, and will therefore be treated as greater risks than they actually are.