“I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun,
because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.“
Ecclesiastes 2:18
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Our hunting/gathering ancestors had been very successful. So successful that hunting/gathering has survived to this day. Not only that most hunter/gatherers continue this lifestyle even when offered an alternative but a few ‘civilized’ persons have also decided to embrace this manner of ‘making ends meet’.
According to many sociologists, it was during this stage of development that humankind had ‘invented’ spirits and totems in their quest to make sense of the world.
Agriculture – the ability to grow/raise a far more predictable amount of food than that available to the hunter/gatherers – had been the first game-changer.
Specialization is natural. Individuals are different hence each of them is better at doing diverse things.
And this was valid from the very beginning. Some of the hunter/gatherers were better at knapping others at curing hides. But because food had to be gathered constantly, by essentially every member of the clan, the specialists didn’t have many opportunities to advance their craft.
Agriculture had changed all of that.
Work specialization had given birth to social division.
Tools had been transformed into weapons and used to defend stashed crops. This process had engendered ‘landlords’ and had transformed some of the peasants into soldiers. Temporarily at first and professionally later.
Meanwhile, the specialists could stop gathering/growing food and offer the results of their toil in exchange for whatever they needed.
Trade had appeared naturally and the notion of property had to be invented in order for things to remain orderly.
A new narrative was needed to provide meaning and social cohesion.
Productivity had shot up and societies had started to produce more than they needed for day to day life
‘Left over’ resources had started to be accumulated and then used to ‘make things’.
Among other things, accumulated ‘left over’ resources had allowed local ‘rulers’ to hire more soldiers and to enlarge their fiefdom.
To put more and more (social) distance between them and the ‘common people’. And to ‘hire’ ‘thinkers’ whose job was to make sense of what was going on.
Hence organized religion and, simultaneously, ‘science’.
At some point, technology – the practical side of science – had become sophisticated enough to have a huge impact on trade.
When people have enough ‘spare time’ in which to think about ‘meaning’ they also have enough time to look for and design easier methods for doing things. For achieving practical goals. To fabricate things, to transport them, to preserve food… That was how a new profession had been invented. The trader!
Who needed a specialized tool! Money.
Trading, more and more intense and reaching farther and farther away, had furthermore increased social productivity.
Having more diverse resources at their disposal meant that people had to learn more crafts. The longer and longer distances which had to be covered induced a new technological leap in this realm.
More and more things which had to be learned, understood and made sense of enticed the birth of ‘real’ science
Science, what we call ‘science’, has again played havoc with the established order of the world.
Not only that the innumerable new technological breakthroughs have vastly increased productivity, modern science has also proposed new meaning. A new narrative for making sense of the world.
An impersonal one. Devoid of any almighty and fully responsible agent.
Abruptly, people were left without any ‘origin’ on which to peg their understanding.
‘Man as a measure for all things’ had acquired a totally new meaning.
For those who could ‘afford’ it.
nicichiarasa 