Essay on The Worse Mistake in Human History - 1398 Words

Most people would argue that the transition from hunting and gathering of food to agricultural food production was the best innovation in human history. We are taught to believe that this innovation gave rise to civilization, allowed for more leisure time in which people could then focus on arts and allowed for a higher yielding, more consistent and reliable food source. Despite some of the innovations that sprang from agriculture, upon a closer look, we can see that with the advent of agriculture came class division, gender inequality, less leisure time, overpopulation, diseases, deficient diets and starvation. The transition from hunting and gathering to agricultural food production may have been the worst mistake in human history.†¦show more content†¦Therefore, there can be no kings, no class of social parasites who grow fat on food seized from others.† (1987). He also argues that the food surplus created by early farmers made it possible for humans to establish a non-food-producing sector such as kings, chiefs, bureaucrats and priests. Once food is stockpiled, a social and political elite emerges, taking control of food production and asserting the right to taxation; procuring food for themselves through the work of others allows them to have more leisure time and engage in political or other social activities (1997). Agriculture not only gave rise to a ruling class of kings and scribes based on hereditary rights, but also to an elite class of specialized craftsmen, such as pottery makers or smiths. This divided the society into a ruling class of elites who enjoyed the fruits of others and laborers or commoners who worked in order to support not only themselves but also the elites. Along with the class divisions created by agriculture it is believed then also came gender inequalities. Hunter-gatherer bands tended to be nomadic. The lifestyle of the hunter-gatherer made it very difficult for women to have more than one child at a time since she had to breastfeed and carry them as she foraged for food and moved along with the band to various locations. Therefore a typical hunter-gatherer woman had a child roughly every four to five years which thenShow MoreRelatedThe Worst Mistake Made By Humans1434 Words   |  6 Pagesfarmland is in the United States? Wasn’t mass farming a good innovation for the country? Wasn’t the Agricultural Revolution a bright spot for human history? In Jack Diamond’s article, â€Å"The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race†, he states that the Agricultural Revolution is the worst mistake made by humans. This assumption is correct because it affected humans negatively in several ways: home lives, health, and socially. From the beginning, the Agricultural Revolution affected the home livesRead MoreExistential Vacuum1671 Words   |  7 Pagestwentieth century have lost meaning of purpose. He also observed that the existential vacuum was worse in the United States than in Europe or developing countries. A potential cause for this feeling of emptiness is the loss of animal instinct throughout human history. Every living culture, whether it was human or animal has an innate set of instincts that guide how we live. However, through time, humans have tamed those instincts and shoved them into non-existence by creating laws of â€Å"civility.† Read MoreAnalysis Of The Red Pyramid1460 Words   |  6 Pagesreader that the message of the book is that history repeats itself unless you learn from your mistakes. Every book has its own way of being told and written, the Red Pyramid has different rules and orders that the book has to follow for it to be in sync with the other main characteristics of the book. An example would be when Isis, the goddess of magic of life said, You see gods have great power, but only humans have creativity, the power to change history rather than simply repeat it. (RiordanRead MoreCreating Tragedy Out Of Triumph1079 Words   |  5 Pagesgrowing the food we need to survive. Why change something that works? The agricultural revolution was a great tragedy in the history of the world, bringing about bodily changes, health defects and diseases, and a disparity of the sexes. Jared Diamond, author of â€Å"The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race†, believes the agricultural revolution to be a tremendous mistake. He cites numerous examples of ways in which agriculture has had negative effects, including malnutrition and starvation,Read MoreSummary : The Slave Next Door1501 Words   |  7 Pagesdiabolical strains to emerge in the thousands of years in which humans have been enslaving their fellows. In the modern global society, there are not just only one kind of human race that specifically victim of human traffic, today it come in all races, all types, and all ethnicities, which became the â€Å"Equal Opportunity Slavery† that Bales and Soodalter were mentioned in their book, The Slave Next Door. It is proving itself to be worse than the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade that historically took placeRead MoreBackground Checks : Why Take Them Away?1630 Words   |  7 Pageseveryone else, regardless of your race, national origin, color, s ex, religion, disability, medical history, or age if you are forty or older (â€Å"Employment†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). In 2005 the National Task Force on the Commercial Sale of Criminal Justice Record Information, made a report that noted an â€Å"explosion in criminal background checks† since September 11, 2001 (Csere). Another survey in 2012 by the Society for Human Resources Management stated that sixty-three percent of employers conduct criminal background checksRead MoreStereotyping Arabs667 Words   |  3 Pagesand Muslims and portrayed them as uneducated, uncivilized, extremists, close-minded people and they even showed them as terrorists. Hollywood; the main movie industry area in the world is mainly controlled by Jewish people. Jews have had unpleasant history with Muslims and a big percentage of Muslims are Arabs. Some of the Jewish publishers still hold a grudge and hatred towards Arabs and Muslims, so they would present them in negative ways and show them as a †h arm† to society. Many people become ignorantRead MoreElie Wiesels Speech : The Perils Of Indifference1340 Words   |  6 Pagesthat â€Å"throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph† Throughout millennia, despite many differences in language, cultural, and social structures, humans all developed the same characteristics like, for one; their approach in tragedies happening around the world. When responding to tragedies, humans can either beRead MoreThe Perils Of Indifference By Elie Wiesel1306 Words   |  6 Pagesonce said â€Å"throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph†. Througho ut millennia, despite many differences in language, cultural, and social structures, humans all developed the same characteristics in their approach in tragedies happening around the world. When responding to tragedies, humans can either be aghastRead MoreEssay about Does History Have an End?1045 Words   |  5 Pageshad not yet begun. Why is he so sure of himself? The answer to this depends on Marxs deterministic view of history. Marx inherited from his philosophical father, Hegel, the idea of historical progress (.a href=http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Authors/about_karl_marx.htmlhttp://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Authors/about_karl_marx.html/a). Both believed that human history unfolds according to a distinct series of historical stages, each following the other. These stages ultimately