Read on Twitter
Y’know, with all this growing confusion on why governments suck. I would like to share my theory to whoever wants to listen, please let me know if you disagree with any of my following statements, I’d like to build a more cohesive concept myself and alternative views do help.
Disclaimer: This thread will naturally read with the voice of a pompous dick, as that is how I seem to type when I’d like to sound dignified, I do not wish to invoke infallibility, nor to discourage any competing viewpoints, I just want to share because it is all I am able to do.
Allow me to ask the question; how would the first society have begun?
Imagine if you will a pack of humans, in the wild, no clothes, no tools, no history (besides maybe oral in a very simple language), they have nothing.
Let’s imagine there are 30 of them, multiple families, perhaps a few stragglers who ended up joining the pack. At some point maybe one of them who was okay at hunting made a tool from their surroundings that allowed them to hunt better. We’ll call him person A.
But another person, maybe person B is much better at hunting, but doesn’t understand how person A made his tool. They work out an agreement, if A makes hunting tools for B, then B will hunt food for A, it is simple enough.
(I will add that I know that using hunting as the main source of food for prehistoric humans is an antiquated statement as gathering has been proven to be the main food source at that time, but this is simply an extrapolative metaphor, these concepts can and will be exchanged.)
Meanwhile, while A and B have worked out their agreement, person C is a mother, taking care of her newborn boy, she had the child with person B, so she is certain that he will grow up to be a great hunter like his father, but it is almost winter and she is concerned for survival.
She notices that another person, person D, has been creating what seems to be very comfortable and warm places to sleep at night, she asks if person D could provide a safe place for her and her baby to rest safely until he is strong enough to survive on his own.
Another agreement has been made, if person C’s mate, person B, hunts food for person D, he will create the best resting places for them.
Person B, the good hunter, understands that he cannot provide enough food to feed 3 people and a newborn on his own, so he asks a few of his friends, E, F, and G, that he knows are also good hunters to aid him, and in exchange, person D agrees to make homes for them as well.
This is the bartering society, and you will miss it as we continue, as it is the purest form of society we have ever had. Hunters, nourishers, crafters all working together on each other’s strengths so they may all have a higher standard of living together.
So let’s imagine this concept continues on for 6 or 7 generations, they construct a tribe, maybe a monument or two because they have free time where they don’t need to worry about survival as often anymore, things are good.
But then, there was farming.
(Again, this is probably not the birth of the concept I am about to extrapolate on, but it will do for now)
With the increased prosperity that our bartering system has brought to our once pack, now tribe of people, there has been a definite uprise in population, it’s not too crazy an idea to think that maybe somebody figured out that putting grapes in a jar for a while made wine, so...
They had a lot of kids.
At some point, the gatherers discovered that certain plants could be replaced in neat and orderly rows turning them into crops, that allowed for easy and abundant gathering, or farming, this would be very convenient for feeding their much larger current population.
But somebody has to pick them, and lots of them, the population is so big that they rely on these crops to survive, and the previous number of gatherers that they already have just won’t do. They have to feed about 400 people now.
Over these past few generations there have been families that were inadvertently chosen by others as leaders, the ones who are able to take a top down look at all of the people interacting to settle disputes and to organize all the families in the tribe in order to optimize all.
But now the leader faces a tough decision, because many people who are not gatherers are going to have to become gatherers, and it doesn’t seem like many people are volunteering, they’re all working on the tasks that they are good at, so he must enforce what is “the greater good”
Slavery is born, it’s not quite the slavery that we’re all familiar with now, for sure, one could expect that perhaps it was less naturally cruel, but that is only speculation, certain people have been enlisted to gather the crops so their society may survive.
In exchange for their service, these slaves were allowed to live in the society their families had helped build, their food, shelter and safety was assured so long as they worked. Perhaps this decision was met with praise, perhaps it was scowled upon, but it changed everything.
Fast forward, let’s say 10 generations, the tribe has grown too big for itself alone now, and due to maybe a disagreement, or perhaps simply travel, it has split off into multiple tribes, some like each other, some don’t. Militaries/militias have to be formed, to assure safety.
I didn’t know you could run out of thread tweets, this may take a while to finish, tbc.
