
Lucretian Prehistory: An Epicurean view of the pros and cons of civilization - diodorus
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/lucretian-prehistory
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Merrill
Whether pre-agricultural societies were generally peaceful is a matter of some
debate. If they were, it is probably because disease, accident and predators
kept the population in balance with resources. See, for example, "Resource
scarcity drives lethal aggression among prehistoric hunter-gatherers in
central California" at
[https://www.pnas.org/content/113/43/12120](https://www.pnas.org/content/113/43/12120)

>Results reveal that sharp force trauma, the most common form of violence in
the record, is better predicted by resource scarcity than relative
sociopolitical complexity. Blunt force cranial trauma shows no correlation
with mean net primary productivity or political complexity and may reflect a
different form of close contact violence. This study provides no support for
the position that violence originated with the development of more complex
hunter-gatherer adaptations in the fairly recent past. Instead, findings show
that individuals are prone to violence in times and places of resource
scarcity.

~~~
ptah
they were more peaceful in the sense that violence was individual and local to
a large extent whereas once metals were introduced incidents took on a larger
scale according to the article

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Zigurd
Just as the Greeks thought they lived comfortably compared to their image of
naked foragers in the wilderness, we have some misperceptions of our own
advanced state.

For example, a common mismeasurement of the misery of pre-industrial life is
very low life expectancy. On average, you'll be dead at about 35 years. But
that number is skewed by a very high infant and child mortality rate. If you
make it to adulthood, you're still subject to lack of modern medicine, but
you'll probably make it farther than 35.

That sucks compared to present day low infant mortality, which has many
benefits beyond just fewer dead children. But low infant mortality skews our
view of the harshness of pre-industrial adult life. Relative comfort can
impart smugness.

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ptah
> But the search for power and gratification by the few at the expense of the
> many is an inevitable feature of civilization that could be better
> controlled than it is, even if it can never be banished once and for all.

It's disappointing that there are no suggestions around how to better control
this

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briga
For a 2000 year old poem, De rerum natura offers a surprisingly scientific
take on the world, as well as a fascinating insight into what was going on at
the edge on Roman thought at the time. It's still a great and fairly
accessible read, and if reading ancient poems is your thing I'd recommend the
Rolfe Humphries translation.

~~~
jfengel
Indeed. Lucretius is often credited for his prescient understanding of
"atoms", but that's really a red herring. His view of atoms isn't all that
similar to the 19th century atomic theory, and even less to modern atomic
theory.

What he really had going for him was empricism. The win was the notion that
the universe is governed by a small set of physical laws, and that we can
understand those laws. The sun and moon operate by the same principles as our
bodies do.

He anticipated what this would mean for free will, and cobbled in a "swerve"
to allow for it. But it was still a world dominated by natural forces, not
supernatural ones, in which science could be a thing.

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ricc
This reminds me of Jared Diamond's article about humanity's biggest mistake...

