February 21st 2008

The real test: Managing Spaceship Earth. (Link to a program that shows a realtime model of the universe.)

State of the Spaceship Today:


Eventually, we want to understand how we arrived at this state of affairs, and what we can do about it.

We're starting at the "Bottom of the Barrel" (the barrel model of culture)

Infrastructure: "the economic base" includes:

• subsistence practices
• exchange systems
• material equipment used to make a living

Approach: Cultural Materialism

Five Main Subsistence Patterns

• Foraging (Hunter-Gatherers)
• Pastoralism (Raising Domesticated Animals)
• Horticulture
• Agriculture (More Intensive than Horticulture)
• Industrialism
  
  

Characteristics of Foragers (Hunter-Gatherers)

• Until 10,000 years ago, all humans were foragers (Cavemen are usually portrayed as brude men, stupid, strong, etc.)
• 90% of all people who ever lived were foragers.
• 99% of all human history we have been foragers.
• They tend to live in small bands (less than 100 people) !Kung Bushman Video; get water they collect dew drops from leaves or grass
  *Shows how people who live in a very scarce environment can live as foragers
• They are mostly egalitarian (equal).
• They often live long, healthy lives
• Marshall Sahlins calls them "The Original Affluent Society" (Story of Harvard Graduate and Mexican man)

Civilized man vs. Caveman vs. Alien

Inuit Eskimo video;
- Whenever something is killed, they view it as the animal "giving itself" to them.
-Hunters do not eat first kill to show that they hunt for others.

The following history is drawn from the ideas of Jared Diamond. (What leads to this desparity?) His book focuses on the theory of the origins of inequality. We will continue to discuss his ideas throughout the semester. If you are interested in these ideas, watch the excellent PBS documentary based on his book: Guns, Germs and Steel: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4008293090480628280


This is Part One of Three - Part Two - Part Three

Here is another short video of one of his lectures discussing these topics:


The Neolithic Revolution (first domesticated plants and animals) 10,000 years ago



One significant difference between agriculture and horticulture is the domestication of animals. Diamond points out that there are 13 large domesticated mammals in Eurasia and just 1 (the llama) in the Americas. Why? I showed a video in class from Guns, Germs, and Steel that gave Diamond's explanation.

In order to be domesticated,animals must:

• have a diet that humans can easily supply (no carnivores)
• have a rapid growth rate
• breed in captivity
• be generally easy-going and easy to manage
• have a social structure in which most will follow thealpha animal
• not panic when fenced in

The Spread of Cultivation

• spread east to west easily
• difficult to spread north and south because of different climates

profound cultural changes that come with domestication of plants and animals 10,000 years ago

• increased population
• more permanent and larger settlements - had to stay near water
  
• division of labor
• more elaborate governments (chiefdoms, states)
  

By the year 1450, the different patterns of subsistence were distributed like this:

1. Most agriculture developed along the Tropic of Cancer. (yellow)

2. Draft animals and other technologies spread east-west through the wide continent.

3. Horticulture thrives in fertile tropical areas. (green)

4. Pastoralism develops on the edge of food cultivation areas ... or where food cultivation thrived but now fails. (orange)

5. Over time, foraging has been pushed into sparse environments. (red)

World Simulation: Based on this, how would your culture survive in the year 1450?


Trends from Foraging to Industrialism

• increasing population
• greater production, surplus, and wealth
• greater diversity of products
• greater diversity of jobs

... but ...

• less efficiency
• increased social inequality
• increased economic inequality
• increased social conflict
• increased labor demand