I have read a book that changed me.

[shadow-watcher]

Have you ever read a book that changed the way you see things? I am sure most have given the nature of our site. On another site some time ago I followed a thread about what to do about the starving people of the world. I have my own thoughts on this but did not add them to the discussion because one who shared my ideas was getting flamed pretty bad. He simply stated that in the animal world the weak die off and the balance is stabilized. This sent a shockwave through the thread, mostly about how we are better than animals and this is OUR planet and WE should thrive over others. Well it got me thinking and at one point the flamed member offered up a book that explains it well. I d/l it and devoured the book. Come to find out the author wrote a few books that are all tied together in the same theme. I d/l as many as I could find online for free. This guys makes so much sense to me that it feels like a 40 year filter has been lifted from my eyes allowing me to see the world with frightening clarity.

The guy's name is DANIEL QUINN. His book ISHMAEL was the one that started it off for me. From there I collected the others and they reinforced my beliefs. Look for his work online. If you cannot find them, let me know, I can point you to some.


I took it upon myself to write a short synopsis to get others interested.
I will post it below. please look into this and maybe we can have a great discussion. It is a must read for those into survival thinking.

[shadow-watcher]

The Martian Anthropologist
and the
Agricultural Revolution

Daniel Quinn's work on Ishmael has inspired a new way of thinking about our culture as a race of humans. Three million years ago humans were hunter gatherers. We would simply live to find food and reproduce. There was a direct correlation between food gathered and population size. We could not exceed the number of people allowed for the amount of food we had. This worked for thousands of generations. We were in harmony with nature. 10,000 years ago humans in general started to grow their own food in addition to being hunter and gatherers. This was called the AGRICULRAL REVOLUTION. It is believed that as a whole the human race just walked away from being hunter gatherers and adopted the beginnings of what we have become today.

Observing wild life we see that birds and animals live in such a way that works very well for them to flourish. They find a food source, make a home, and populate in proportion to the amount of food available. Survival of the fittest kept the weaker from passing on their inferior genes to the next generation. The animals would adapt to their surroundings and harmony was balanced. If a disaster occurred, the population would be adjusted by who survived and what was left to eat. There is a law of the land that cannot be avoided. This is that a population cannot exceed it's food supply indefinitely.

The hunter gatherers noticed that by growing the foods they liked close to home, they would not have to keep moving looking for food. They eventually included animals in their cultivation and became settlers. This major increase in food allowed the settlers to have larger families. The agricultural revolution caused an exponential growth in population. This culture expanded into other lands causing those other cultures to adapt or die off. This growth has been followed all the way to present day. The problem is now we are reaching critical mass. Our land is now becoming either living space or farming space. We are choking off other species like we did to other cultures years ago. We have taken control of the food and resources of the world with no regard for the future.

Quinn's belief is that we did not just up and switch the way we live, but actually evolved as a culture using what works and discarding what does not. 500 years ago there were still many cultures out there that relied on hunting and gathering. 200 years ago we eradicated most of those cultures but there were still many that survived. It is funny how anthropology will not acknowledge this. We systematically conquered those cultures because they were not living the ways modern humans should be living. There are still many tribes that currently live by their own culture apart from ours. What is forgotten is that what we have today is not humanity. It is a culture within humanity. We are one of thousands of cultures that lived on this planet. It was our belief in our own superiority that caused us to thrive. The odd thing is those cultures that survived over the millions of years were evolved enough to live in harmony with the world around them, whereas we do not live in harmony, in fact we actively attack all living things that interfere with our growth.

Quinn has given many analogies for what our culture has been doing. In one he took the story of Adam and Eve and tried to give it a place in our cultural history. God had a tree of knowledge and a tree of life. The tree of life was offered to Adam and Eve as a way to live forever in harmony with their world. This would be the pre-revolution way of living. Living among all creatures by the rule of taking food to live, but no more. Meaning they would not hoard all food, not deny others their chance to hunt and gather. They would not declare war on others to secure all foods. They were to be as equal as a bird, or a deer or any other living thing. If you ate food, you would also be food to something else. There was a harmony and balance to everything. God explained to them that they were not to touch the tree of knowledge. That this tree was for gods alone. God did not intend the humans to know the knowledge that would be learned from the tree.

They were tempted for this knowledge, they desired to eat of the fruits. When they did, the knowledge was given to them and they knew it was too late to do anything about it. The knowledge was the presence of good and evil in the world. If you were hungry and killed an animal, you thought it was good to find it, but the animal thinks you are evil for killing him. The balance of the world has now been changed. For one to live, another had to die. This process is now seen as good and evil. Also they felt shame for this and when God asked them about the tree, they denied going near it, but by their reaction it was evident that they did. Adam and Eve were embarrassed to be seen naked and by hiding they were exposed.

It is my belief that once Adam and Eve realized that they were different from the other animals, they also came to think of the world as theirs to do with as they would. This is what I think was meant when it was said that they were kicked out of Eden. Eden or paradise was what the animals enjoy, because they are not aware of good and evil they can live in harmony with all living things. Eden works because of this harmony. Once the knowledge was attained, Adam and Eve could no longer live in harmony with everything else, thus being cast out of the world everything else lives in. Looking back at this history it makes more sense why we only view humanity as existing in the last 10,000 years. Before that we were too animalistic to be considered truly human. By denying pre-revolutionary culture humanity we can solidly set ourselves apart from the rest of the animals in our world. We can now be better than them, allowing us to conquer the world and rule it as we see fit.

Another analogy he gave was a flying ship that was launched off of a high cliff. It is powered by men peddling to keep it aloft. It was scary to leap off the cliff, but it was pure faith that allowed them to try. Things were great, the men thought it was amazing to fly under their own power. They were proud of their achievements and wanted to fly forever. A few of the men noticed that the ground was getting a bit closer so they agreed to work together to peddle harder to keep things moving along. While they were rejoicing they realized that they needed more men to keep on course, so more peddled and all was right with their world. As the ground crept up on them they began to notice other machines on the ground. They wondered why no one else was able to do what they have achieved. The answer eluded them, but hey at least they figured it out. Their only problem was figuring out how many men were needed to keep their ship afloat. For now it seems like they have managed to have it down. Some of the men realized that they are dropping faster than before and they told the captain of their concerns. The captain reassured the men that they have been afloat for quite some time and nothing bad has happened so they should be calm and enjoy the flight. The men were not calmed by this and told some of the others, but for the most part those men heard their captain and agreed that all has been well. Well those who were concerned tried harder and harder to keep things in the air, but it was pretty clear to them that they were heading for disaster. When the ground was approaching at a very fast pace the captain started to get concerned that maybe the men were right about this. He consulted others and was met with disbelief. By the time all of the men realized that they were most definitely falling and would soon crash, it was too late to do anything. The men could not believe that their luck had run out. They were flying so well for so long and now they will crash. If only they knew where they went wrong. They thought by doing more of what hasn't worked in the past it would be ok. So the more they failed the hard they tried the same thing.

This analogy mirrors our culture. The laws of the land apply to us all whether we believe in them or not. Gravity will pull you down if you ignore the laws of aerodynamics, just like the laws of survival dictate that you cannot live beyond your means. You may not crash immediately, but do not be fooled, you will crash eventually.

[angryamerican]

Wow that is too funny that this comes up. At my team leader meeting on Wednesday, We had a little spat between Myself and the team leaders who have been there longer then me.

Our topic that day was tool theft. In my shop like most these days theft is out of control. Tools seem to walk out the door quicker then they come in. I and one of the other second shift leads were coming up with ideas such as puting a locked box at each work station and the employee running that station would be issued a key for the box for the day and be responsible for the tools. That was just one idea. This other guy and I were just tossing these ideas out as fast as we thought of them.

Now the first shift leads who have all been there forever were shooting them down left and right. There reasons made no sense to anybody but them. John our plant manager just sat there with a discusted look on his face. Finally I had had enough and I lost my temper.

I said "you guys should be ashamed of yourself. your suppose to be leaders but your acting like nothing more then lazy little children. You have shot down every idea we have come up with just because your afraid of change. Its simple. the way we have always gone does not work. We must change or we will die. The economy being the way it is the old way is killing us. So quite being so lazy and help us or move out the way and let somebody in your spot who will help us.

The older of the two leads Asked me who the hell I thought I was. John the plant manager told him to shut up and start listening or get wrote up. I made a couple enemy on that day but it needed to be said. So that kinda ties into what the last analogy is about

[shadow-watcher]

Our country has become a system of PROGRAMS. If there is a behavior that the PTB wants to stop, they spend a fortune on research and committees to develop programs. If the program fails, next budget year they will add more people, and more money to do it again. Every time it fails the same excuses arise. There was mismanagement, not enough funds, or not enough men on the job is the year end failure mantra. The system is designed to fail because it's not the behavior change that is the priority, it is the job security of those who accept the tasks. Old minds with new ideas will NEVER work. New minds with NO programs is the only path to effective change.

Never in the history of our government has there ever been a behavior changing program that worked. Think about it. Abortion, drinking, war on drugs, the war on terrorism, none ever end with programs. What we need to do is accept the behavior as a need to be fulfilled and replace that need with something that makes the old behavior obsolete. Take drunk driving as an example. If the person knew that there was an incentive to not getting a dui (in addition to avoiding trouble), like maybe a yearly cash back check from the insurance company for a perfect record, this might be a stronger lure than risking a dui. Albeit the insurance company would never go for it, the idea of a reward to replace the risk is the concept in mind.

We need a change but it will not come from an individual (like obama) it will come about when civilization as a whole is offered a better way to do things that make the old ways obsolete.

[Lothar of the Hill People]

I haven't read the book so I won't comment on the content. Ever hear of a guy called Stewart Brand? He was a total enviro-whacko who started 'The Whole Earth Catalog' back in 1968. Well he finally took a hard look at some startling trends in the developing world and chucked some of his less-informed notions about subsistence farming in rural villages.

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Population growth in the Western world is almost purely from immigration from the developing world. Several nations most notably Italy and Russia have actually lost population. Since 1970 population growth in the industrialized Western nations was 50%, population growth in the undeveloped world was a staggering 150%(that's a lowball figure I might add).

We the first generation born in the US that has taken a hard look at our chances of 'getting ahead' and said that it really depends on your definition of 'getting ahead'. Many places in West Texas that were populated in first 60-70 years of the 20th century have had a nose dive in population over the last 30-40 years largely due to the same reasons that Brand cites in the video, No hope of economic growth. While some towns on the border with Mexico have grown, most of small town Lower Rio Grande Valley more than half an hour from the river are still at the same size they were in the 1950's. This area is very dry and wells for potable water are hellatiously expensive( $40K-$140k). Water management is the real key to human survival.

Our future as a race depends on cooperation, local economic diversification and establishing sustainable sources of food and energy that are locally produced for major urban centers. You can't afford ship the neccessary tonnages of food around the world, it's just too costly energy wise. The next 50 years are going to be the toughest humans have ever faced since the melting of the polar ice caps some 12K years ago. We know what kind of impression that left on us as a race.

[stevetamis0]

Just finished Comfort to the Enemy, a collection of two short stories and a novella by Elmore Leonard, featuring 'the Hot Kid' Carl Webster. Not very substantial stuff, reinforcing my feeling that when it came to overall consistency of work, taking into account shorts and novellas, that Ed McBain had Leonard beat, if only by a narrow margin.