agriculturalists vs. hunter-gatherers

[MJS]

Many anthropologists believe that when we became agricultural humans, we were
planting the "seeds of our own destruction", and that we would be better off if we had remained a hunting/gathering peoples.

Would love some discussion about this...
Mara

[John]

Hey Mara,

That sounds like a strange thing for someone to say. To me that seems like not only a necessary step in the evolution of our species but an inevitable one. I agree that this planted the "seeds of our own destruction" but it also planted the "seeds to transcend our destruction." Lets hope the latter takes root first

Peace,
John

Originally Posted by MJS

Many anthropologists believe that when we became agricultural humans, we were
planting the "seeds of our own destruction", and that we would be better off if we had remained a hunting/gathering peoples.

Would love some discussion about this...
Mara

[Bruce Paine]

Mara.

The Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo peoples, traditionally were "agriculturists" and peace-loving peoples, whereas the Cheyenne, Apache, and the Sioux tribes were "hunter/gatherers" who were constantly at war with other tribes and later, the white man when he entered the scene, so my guess is the "agriculturists" had a greater chance of survival and "thrivival" than the "hunter/gatherers" who might have decimated each other's populations with their warring ways.

The anthropologists probably don't eat the diet of "agriculturists" and therefore might not see the advantages to a "agriculturist" based diet and society.

Are you a "agriculturists" or a "hunter/gatherer"?

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[MJS]

Hi Bruce and John,

Thanks for your comments.
I'm a pro-agriculturalist also and I too believe in some kind of positive human destiny. The folks who insist we'd have been better off had we remained hunter-gatherers seem to be hard-line materialists with romantic inclinations.They have no spiritual belief and look at the human situation as a hopeless one (No destiny exists beyond self-annihilation). They romanticize life at the band level... A time before we began imposing our will so harshly upon the earth.

"If there was no agriculture, there'd have been no industry, and no industry means no large scale environmental devastation."

I used to feel this way too, and before you realize there _is_ a way back to nature, it really does feel hopeless. I used to see the apocalypse in every factory, every scalped hillside. I was a nihilist and pessimist before I became an optimist and self-healer.

To me it's all part of the adventure, that we have problems to solve and truth to promote. Good and bad have never both possessed such epic, defined proportions as today. Industrial civilization faces a collapse and progressive thinkers will be the ones to rebuild.

No matter what will come, I think there will always be truth & love and therefore hope. I think there will always be people working to make a better life. Even in a bleak and dire, Malthusian landscape, in the worlds of Mad Max or "Blade Runner", the human spirit will endure. Macrobiotics makes a survivor-mindset.

[jig-doin-a-Jig]

"agriculturalists vs hunter-gatherers"


duh the farmers won!

guns germs and steel by jared diamond taught me that

[MJS]

Originally Posted by jig-doin-a-Jig

"agriculturalists vs hunter-gatherers"


duh the farmers won!

guns germs and steel by jared diamond taught me that

I've been looking at that one; so do you recommend it, then?

[jig-doin-a-Jig]

yeh its really good