The Cellar - View Single Post - Does anyone use Agriculture to Relive Ancestry?

squirell nutkin · 07-03-2010, 01:03 PM

I'm not sure I buy Schmidt's thesis. I expect that people have always had some form of religion, and as hunter gatherers settled down in one place they brought their religion with them.

Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" posits that bureaucracy and cities grew from agriculture because people were in one place and had time to develop skills other than hunting and gathering. Then there were the people who figured out that they could be the "managers" (i.e. lazy lumps) in exchange for some of the food, and before long people decided that they would, in exchange for food, create some kind of mojo that would protect you from the scary things. Then they invented a soul and all manner of boogeymen to protect you from in exchange for more food and power.

OK, I diverged a bit from Diamond's thesis there.

But Why would we need a city in order to worship?

07-03-2010, 01:03 PM	#4
squirell nutkin has a second hand user title Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: in a Nut House Posts: 2,017	I'm not sure I buy Schmidt's thesis. I expect that people have always had some form of religion, and as hunter gatherers settled down in one place they brought their religion with them. Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" posits that bureaucracy and cities grew from agriculture because people were in one place and had time to develop skills other than hunting and gathering. Then there were the people who figured out that they could be the "managers" (i.e. lazy lumps) in exchange for some of the food, and before long people decided that they would, in exchange for food, create some kind of mojo that would protect you from the scary things. Then they invented a soul and all manner of boogeymen to protect you from in exchange for more food and power. OK, I diverged a bit from Diamond's thesis there. But Why would we need a city in order to worship? __________________ And now I'm finished posting.