Fall Of The Baby-People
Why getting what we want is bad for us
Someone once condensed the last thirteen thousand years of human history into one brief paragraph:
A peaceful tribe of pastoralists is living in a fertile valley. They grow crops, tend their cattle, and enjoy the comforts of mud-brick houses and the various domestic implements that collectively make storing, preparing, and cooking food much easier. Then one day a tribe of aggressive raiders comes over the hill and, seeing how peaceful and poorly-prepared these pastoralists are, descend into the valley to slaughter and enslave them. The raiders then consume everything the pastoralists had, and when it’s all gone, the raiders have a choice: move on, or remain and attempt to develop skills similar to those of the pastoralists they so recently slaughtered. Some move on, and some remain. Those who remain gradually learn to plant crops at the right times, herd and manage cattle, and make artifacts like mud bricks and pots and hand-tools. In time they forget their formerly violent ways and become more peaceful and more productive in the pleasant fertile valley. Then one day a tribe of aggressive raiders comes over the hill and, seeing how peaceful and poorly-prepared these pastoralists are, descend into the valley to slaughter and enslave them.
