What has happened in human history
Sapiens emerged from the evolutionary tree about 300,000 years ago. Like most homo and pan, they lived in bands within territories. With the development of language they became particularly associative and started to form tribal units for the sake of trade and advanced cultural activities.
Life remained local and communitarian. That’s the natural and healthy way.
The Neolithic Revolution dates to about ten thousand years ago. After that, tribes became increasingly dependent upon self-production of food via agriculture. Control over and distribution of the produce became social issues. Eventually, private property in regard to the land and the produce emerged. In the wake of that development the “New Ways” lifeways arose characterized by dominating cities, then states, then empires.
They call it “history” after writing enables the tale to be told. That’s been the case for about five thousand years. During most of history most people continued to live within a local and communitarian context. But they were subjected to the vagaries of the uber-strata of the states and empires.
The latter made demands such as taxation and conscription. The warring of uber-strata behemoths could occasionally raze whole villages, dislocate whole populations, etc. But during normal, uneventful times the orientation of the majority of people remained simple, local, chthonic, village-based.
There were historical inflection points at the Neolithic Revolution, the rise of the state, and then at the take-off into the current industrial modernity … during which the “New Ways” have become fully ubiquitous and enveloping. For most of humanity tribal or village life has been decimated. So now we see atomized individuals and households trying to cope within a reality dominated by the interlocking components of the modern Leviathan: capital, technology, and the state. For all but the wealth/power elites, it’s difficult, disorienting, and enervating … stressful on people and on the planet.
This state of affairs is unsustainable. The only question is when and how it will be deconstructed. An argument can be made that a turning point has begun.
