This series of tweets discusses the book āThe Dawn of All Thingsā by David Graeber and David Wengrow.
The main points are as follows
- This book will be the foundation for discussions on human history for decades to come.
- Contrary to conventional views of human history, archaeological evidence suggests that prehistoric human societies were more complex and diverse.
- In the past, there were principle of equality societies and notions of equal rights for men and women that are unthinkable today.
- The ātechnological innovationsā that have been considered history-making are not mutational, but have been advanced by many people over a long period of time.
- Human history is not a history of development or linear evolution, and a world dominated by modern a modern state or nation or capitalism has lost its diversity.
- Human history is full of clues that can unshackle our thinking.
Thus, it is stated that this book is an important book that provides an opportunity to rethink human history from a different perspective than the traditional Big History and to question the state of contemporary society.
nobushiromasaki Great book.
This book will be the foundation for discussions of human history for decades to come. Big History is popular with all. The Complete History of Sapiensā is a precedent, but Harari is not an expert. On the other hand, this book is a review and sketch of human history by an expert. This book will help you understand how bad āThe Complete History of Sapiensā is. ā
nobushiromasaki Human history has long been viewed in this way. There was a long prehistoric period, followed by various technological innovations such as the agrarian and settlement revolutions, and then the birth of cities and nations, and the emergence of the current global society as communities grew to enormous size. Harari, Jared Diamond, and Steven Pinker all basically follow this line of thinking.
nobushiromasaki step on it. However, too many historical sites of archaeological āexceptionsā have been discovered today to be summed up in this way. For example - prehistoric mankindās way of thinking was sufficiently complex, good quality, and not naive, even compared to modern man. Nor was it barbaric. It was less violent than the āstruggle of all against all.ā
nobushiromasaki Society also existed. And in the past, many communities adopted and changed a wide variety of social systems and structures, repeating trial and error and ācompetingā to build a better society in a sense. In addition, the 21st century can be said to be an era of accelerated pursuit of egalitarianism, but in the past, human beings ran cities without hierarchy ā.
nobushiromasaki, which was already an egalitarian society (unthinkable today). Gigantic ruins have often been seen as evidence of the āoveruseā of people by the class system and hierarchy, but this was never the case. There is also a great deal of evidence to suggest such a past. But that is not all. Equal rights and progressive gender ideals have also been
nobushiromasaki They have existed locally since ancient times. We have just somehow āforgottenā them. Even communities have existed as huge organizations beyond our imagination long before the birth of the modern state. In addition, ātechnological innovation,ā which has been regarded as a milestone in history, has been gradually, rather than mutinously, progressing.
nobushiromasaki Archaeological findings and other evidence show that it has happened. For example, the agrarian revolution was not carried out by a special genius, but by āeveryoneā through a process of trial and error and innovation, large and small, over a period of several thousand years. Moreover, it was actually āwomenā who exerted the power in this process. Human history has never been a history of development, nor has it been a history of
nobushiromasaki Nor is it a linear evolutionary history. Rather, this book sounds an alarm. Compared to human history, which is filled with such diversity, the world today is dominated by unified or very close approximations such as the modern state and capitalism. Therefore, we are left to wonder about āhow the world should be other than capitalism,ā āother than the state, a social system without a state,ā and so on.
nobushiromasaki I can hardly imagine. Can we say that this is a state of being ādeprivedā of the freedom of thought - or is it? Human history is full of hooks that can free us from the shackles of our thinking. We may have to let go of the easy big history for once.
āThe Dawn of All Thingsā @bungeitosyo
@kobunsha_cs
by Graeber et al.
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