The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race
In the above quotation, Jared diamond 1987 asserts that, the agricultural revolution marked a backward step in societal development. In his theory, he postulates that Agriculture led man to hell as it did not deliver the splendors of civilization. Based on the evidence on the reduced physical conditions of the human race, diamond argues that, the expansion of agriculture has resulted into malnutrition, spread of epidemic disease, and famine. In his work, he believes that ancient hunters and gatherers were better off than the contemporary lifestyles. These pessimistic views overlooks most of the problems that agriculture has solved and seek to challenge the global view of agriculture as a great progressive human discovery that has resulted in different accomplishments of the world civilization. Whether or not, his remarks may not qualify to undermine agriculture to any degree. Agriculture remains an essential part of human society that has helped humans to progress positively and attain a better life. It is paradoxical for diamond and his fellows to criticize agriculture yet it is what makes every socio-economic development in every current society.
Empirical analysis of diamond pessimistic theses framework raises many questions that require further investigation. If agricultural development was a mistake why did it happen at all? Archeological evidences indicate that the world agriculture dates back in the 20th century in Europe where it was being practiced by the primitive native Europeans. These are the periods of Paleolithic and Neolithic when agriculture was regarded to have both geographical and temporary definite origins. By the year 1930s, adoption of agriculture had led to enormous forms of civilization. As these people adopted better agricultural systems, they began expanding most of their social and religious settings. As argued by the economist Colin Tudge, the practicing of agriculture gave the farmers better living standards than the others who were not practicing the act of agriculture. Thus, agriculturalist exhibited better lives throughout their generation.
Across the globe, the shift to agriculture was gradual and ambivalent. As the life of hunter and gatherer continued to become nasty, short and brutish, Man decided to both hunt and gather as they settle and practice the art of agriculture. The adaptation to agriculture as the method of surviving increased food production to support the ever growing population. According to the critical view, people transcended from ordinary foraging to a broad spectrum revolution that could sustain the increased population. Agriculture acted as the water shed moment when human population controlled the environment, tamed themselves, and eventually splendor into the civilization. The agricultural revolution continued to spread to date where very few hunters and gathers still survive in some parts of the globe.
According to dominant mythology, human beings across the nations lived in the wild man state and had very little distinction from the animals they tamed in most of their times.. Human survival was a topic of misery. Every day was a struggle since no food was grown. Ebry 1991, in his research work observe that before the advent of the modern agriculture, the Egyptian and the American farmers had small scale mixed farms. These farms mainly contained corn planted in small scale and horses that were mainly used for domestic purposes. The farming process was often carried out by the community using some of the elegantly crude tools. These tools resulted into crediting this remarkable flowering art that was able to remove a man from such miseries. It is from these simple practices that agriculture emerged and developed to better standards.
Brock 2013, states that, to continue testing the Diamond negative views towards agriculture, paleopathology evidences show that, there is a sharp decline in the stature of human skeleton from Greece and Turkey especially from the pre and post agriculture. These remains from the first millennia suggest that people engage in agriculture. The archaeology data of the Qadan sites of the upper Nile reveals that people settled there before 13, 000 BC and the used crude tools such as blades for cutting wild crops. Studies in Central America, The Near East and Asia also reveal that people using semi-agricultural techniques before the Neolithic developments. As documented in most of these records, people began to raise domesticated livestock and crops in different regions at different times to embrace a broad spectrum agricultural revolution.
Sahlins and Lee some of the renowned anthropologists in their work regard hunters and gatherers as people who had an incomplete culture. Most of their cultures were lost in the earliest stages of civilization and colonization. Diamond himself in his article declares that the lives of these people were nasty and brutish as much as farmers pushed them into the worst life (Diamond 65). These anthropologists managed to disapprove the claim of societal stratification and stereotyping that was brought by Diamond. Considering the theory of natural selection, Lee refuted the idea of scarce resources thus disregarding Diamond understanding that life in its natural setting is nasty and brutish. Sahlins in his anthropological research argued that the hunters and the gatherers were not only considered affluent enough not because they worked hard nor had much food but because they needed small amount of food to survive. Though Diamond progressive review seems to be overwhelming, with different constructed points these arguments makes him to him fail to valid his points.
Diamond qualifies to postulate his thesis but fails to estimate its qualitative nature in the current society. He fails to balance all the technological, social and economic achievements that have been attained across the globe as a result of agriculture. He only measures the various problems the world has faced since the onset of agriculture. How would the world appear if people continued to act as hunters and gatherer for the last 10 decades? Honestly, the world would have had many problems to balance itself. Would the world be overpopulated without agriculture, societies would have had more problems and miseries that are hard to mitigate. As observed, sometimes a history fails to repeat its self, the current society if could have continued to practice hunters and gathering; the collected food could have only supported 1% of the total population which is approximately 6.4 billion. Thus, 99 % could have already died. Moreover, scientific evidence indicates that human miseries have been declining since the onset of human civilization.
The transition from agricultural to the contemporary agriculture is altering human civilization in manners that are better than the first agricultural revolution. This industrialized approach of agriculture is primarily based in the use of technologies and referred as industrial agriculture. This modern approach of the agricultural system utilizes the commercially produced resources such as laboratory-produced seeds, mechanized labor and digitalized markets. This industrial use of technology in today’s agriculture has been adopted in order to produce enough food for the constantly increasing global population. However, despite the eminent efforts that are used to ensure sufficient food, the adoption of the agriculture have often resulted in increased social and environmental challenges. This balance calls for alternative sources of agriculture that integrates both the traditional and modern methods of agricultural practice.
In order to balance both the arguments of Diamond negative believe on human civilization and the adoption of agriculture, there is a need to adopt a sustainable form of agriculture. This form of agriculture will create a system that is ecologically and human sound than the industrialized forms of agriculture that are constantly being promoted. Most of the ideas that are used to develop a sustainable agriculture are adopted from the bio-mimicry. This approach is an idea that studies the nature models in the habits and uses their adaptation to solve human problems. This agriculture promotes minimum human interference and balanced ecosystem.
In conclusion, although, in the entire period of human history, agricultural practice has enormous technological and socio-economic benefits, diamond provides the society with an opportunity to extrapolate the various negative consequences that the agricultural revolution has caused. However, the brief transition phase of human development that included the rise of agriculture, industrial revolution, and empires which are credibly better than the hunters and gatherers time. Considering agriculture as the worst mistake of the human history portrays a rhetorically overstated case that pushes his argument past the revisionist limits.
Bibliography
Jared Diamond, "The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race," Discover Magazine, May 1987, pp. 64-66; online at http://discovermagazine.com/1987/may/02-the-worst-mistake-in-the-history-of-the-human-race.
Patricia Buckley Ebrey, ed. and trans., Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook (New York: Free Press, 1991), 192-94; in Robert W. Strayer, Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources, 2nd edition (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, (2013) pp. 547-48.
Slicher Van Bath, Bh. 1966. The agrarian history of Western Europe A.D. 500-1850. London: E. Arnold. Pp.1-364
