Reading: Ian Morris (2015): Foragers, Farmers and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve
Ian Morris (2015): Foragers, Farmers and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve <http://amzn.to/2lZUel9>
- Foraging: 4,000-8,000 kilocalories per person per day in energy capture | egalitarian | relaxed attitudes to female sexuality | violent.
- Farming: up to 30,000 kcal/day per person in energy capture | wealth inequality | control of female sexuality and lineage | legal structures.
- Fossil fuels: much greater energy capture | less inequality?? | broken Malthusian link | more gender egalitarian | much less violent....
Five Orienting Questions:
- What is the underlying logic of Morris's argument here. I mean, I understand that if Agrarian Age societies are not less violent in terms of the chances of a male-male encounter ending in death, agriculturists would kill each other off. (Presumably, those Agrarian Age societies that did not rapidly become less violent did kill each other off.) But the rest of it?
- Is this a "people built institutions to support their lifestyle" argument?
- Is this a "only institutions that did not destroy the lifestyle survived" argument?
- What role does energy play here? Why do agriculturalists capture so much more energy if they are equally as poor as--or poorer than--hunter gatherers?
- What does Morris think comes next?
