In your book, Ishmael, you speak of the fact that ten thousand years ago, the Takers differentiated themselves from the Leavers by refusing to follow the law of limited competition. But you never answer the question, why. What was the cause of this event, in your opinion?

Ten thousand years ago a new approach to agriculture evolved and a new culture evolved as it practiced this new approach to agriculture. There was never a point at which everyone sat down and decided to start living a new way. It wasn’t like the Founding Fathers issuing the Declaration of Independence—an event for which clear “causes” can be examined. Gradually the agriculture they were practicing became Totalitarian Agriculture, and gradually they became practitioners of Totalitarian Agriculture, with all the attendant beliefs—that the world was made for Man and Man was made to conquer and rule it, and whatever else lives here lives at our sufferance. It can’t be understood as an event; it has to be understood as a process. The more totalitarian their agricultural processes became, the more powerful they became. The more powerful they became, the more dedicated they became to totalitarian agriculture. Or if you must have a cause, then you could say that it was the same then as it is today: Totalitarian agriculture makes you powerful.

DATE: 06 Apr 1997
UPDATE: 02 Apr 2002
ID: 149