Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Economy
In reply to the discussion: Weekend Economists Deck the Halls Christmas Day 2013 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)24. Moral Aspects of Basic Income
http://www.pieria.co.uk/articles/moral_aspects_of_basic_income
The fall of Adam and Eve is a metaphor for the demise of our hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Eden is the recollection of an oppressed peasantry of the more humane world of their happier ancestors. Before we bit the apple, we lived off the fat of the land. Hunter-gatherers lived longer, ate better, and worked less than their agriculturalist descendants. Average adult height, an excellent proxy for childhood nutrition did not return to levels seen in the Palaeolithic until a mere 150 years ago.
Archaeologists tell us the invention of farming may well have been the greatest calamity to befall our species. Kings and slaves, property and war all were by-products of agriculture. Even today, even when forced onto marginal lands, hunter-gather tribes often prefer to retain their old ways rather than till the soil. Why work hard when god made so many mongongo nuts? ask the !Kung of southern Africa.
The lifestyle of hunter gathers is much more easygoing than that of serfs and peasants. Subsistence agriculturalists worked from sunup to sundown. Hunter-gatherers worked a few hours a day. That was enough to feed and clothe and house their families. The rest of the time they could socialize, play games, tell stories. And work back then was hunting antelope with your mates or strolling through the savannah looking for nuts and berries. Farmers overwhelmed hunter-gatherers, not because their lives were more pleasant but because farming makes land so much more productive....
The fall of Adam and Eve is a metaphor for the demise of our hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Eden is the recollection of an oppressed peasantry of the more humane world of their happier ancestors. Before we bit the apple, we lived off the fat of the land. Hunter-gatherers lived longer, ate better, and worked less than their agriculturalist descendants. Average adult height, an excellent proxy for childhood nutrition did not return to levels seen in the Palaeolithic until a mere 150 years ago.
Archaeologists tell us the invention of farming may well have been the greatest calamity to befall our species. Kings and slaves, property and war all were by-products of agriculture. Even today, even when forced onto marginal lands, hunter-gather tribes often prefer to retain their old ways rather than till the soil. Why work hard when god made so many mongongo nuts? ask the !Kung of southern Africa.
The lifestyle of hunter gathers is much more easygoing than that of serfs and peasants. Subsistence agriculturalists worked from sunup to sundown. Hunter-gatherers worked a few hours a day. That was enough to feed and clothe and house their families. The rest of the time they could socialize, play games, tell stories. And work back then was hunting antelope with your mates or strolling through the savannah looking for nuts and berries. Farmers overwhelmed hunter-gatherers, not because their lives were more pleasant but because farming makes land so much more productive....
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
68 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
Retired cops, activist pensioners, and the economic blowback over Snowden By David Sirota
Demeter
Dec 2013
#4
America’s Shopper-in-Chief Has His Staff Sign Him Up for ObamaCare (But Not His Family)
Demeter
Dec 2013
#14
Market Participation, aka Shopping, as a Toll of Neoliberalism: Obamacare as Case Study
Demeter
Dec 2013
#26
Sen. Elizabeth Warren Introduces Bill To Stop Credit Reports For Job Applications
Demeter
Dec 2013
#9
Susan Rice: NSA Officials Didn’t Lie, They ‘Inadvertently Made False Representations’ 60 MIN
Demeter
Dec 2013
#13
American Express to pay $75 million in deceptive practices case FINALLY! By Stuart Pfeifer
Demeter
Dec 2013
#15
The Government Is Quietly Giving Way More Housing Aid To Rich People Than Poor People
Demeter
Dec 2013
#25
US Government Pays Contractors Twice as Much as Civil Servants for the Same Work
Demeter
Dec 2013
#30
“Violent And Terrifying Criminal Stunt” At JP Morgan More Of A “Musical Presentation”
Demeter
Dec 2013
#40
The Church of "Stop Shopping": Meet the Man Leading An Uprising Against The World’s Biggest Banks
Demeter
Dec 2013
#45
The Real Reason Healthcare Insurance Companies Are Now Encouraging Obamacare Enrollment
Demeter
Dec 2013
#50
The 7 Most Important Things Congress Did in 2013 (and the Top 25 Things It Didn’t)
Demeter
Dec 2013
#51
A New Twist in International Relations: The Corporate Keep-My-Data-Out-of-the-U.S. Clause
Demeter
Dec 2013
#53
Jimmy Fallon And Cecily Strong's Adorable 'Baby It's Cold Outside' Parody Will Make You Smile
Demeter
Dec 2013
#58
Ghost Ship Sinking: US To Sink Abandoned Boat From Japan Tsunami With Explosives
Demeter
Dec 2013
#59