The Epoch Of Human Economy
By Lionel Anet
26 May, 2015
Countercurrents.org
Life starts when a process that used energy eventually managed to replicate itself. That process, which uses energy to produce a need, is an economy. No matter if it’s a plant or an animal like us. *
Life is an economic process. It uses the energy essentially from sunlight and the earth’s minerals to build structures and to self-maintain, then to acquire more of those items and propagate more of its self. That’s life; its economy will vary according to the niche it occupies. Economies have become so varied and sophisticated particularly ours, that its simple value is easily hidden. However we’re interested in human economy, so I’m dividing the epoch of humans into Eras and Periods, to better see how we’re arriving towards our self-destruction.
The commons
· The Era of hunter-gatherers
· Pre Homo sapiens felt they belong to an area and a group that lived on the common for a few million years. Up to 150,000 years before present
· Modern human hunter-gatherers lived on all continents except Antarctica. As before, people still belonged to an area as a part of nature, and in groups in associate with other groups around them. They managed the change from the ice age to its end because they were expert toolmakers, chemist and artist. That lifestyle was similar for people throughout the world.
· The Era of Agriculture. ~ 11,000 YBP
· Agriculture in a few localities that had the right physical condition for suitable plants and animals to be nurtured. People would have had to ease themselves from hunting and gathering but never giving it up.
· The Era of Private property. The beginning of work, wars, and sacrifices. ~ 9,000 YBP
· Agriculture became the dominant food produced preferably by slaves and robbed by warriors, who became key people in all civilisations.
· Local Civilisation led by warriors and or priest who used spiritual mythology to own the land and people.
· The Era of serfs, the end of slavery in Europe. ~ 600 AD
· Christian’s ideology against slavery led to serfs, who had the power to fulfil the needs of society the best way they could
· Particularly in England and Netherlands the serfs and artisans developed water and wind mill, horse collar, horse shoe and many other inventions. That’s labour saving devices, which increased the scope of the economy and set it on a new course.
· The Era of capitalism ~ 1600
· Banks create fiat money, Colonialism, race ideology of selecting people by colour of skin to violate the Christian principle of equality to enslave them and still be a Christian. The massacre of seal and whale for oil.
· Colonisation by the metropolitan European powers. Improved in ships design to cope with trade of primary produce, from slaved labour to be manufactured in Great Britain. The stock exchange and the formation of Corporation. While civilisation maintain wars of glory and conquest (thievery). -----
· The steam age fossil fuel energy 1800
The creation of the working class controlled with money - Competitive democracy dominated by deceit (“universal” suffrage) women as cheap labour.
· The mechanisation of wars for the needed natural resources maintaining the eternal conflicts. It’s now also profitable for the suppliers of military equipment. up to 1905
· The Era of the internal combustion engine. 1900
· Factories for mass production - broad acre farming, cars, aeroplanes, and universal education geared to maximise economic growth with competition, a system that must grow to appear to function.
· 1930 interruption to growth of markets failure. The solution was to save; it resulted with the depression, bankruptcies and unemployment- sacrifices.
· The new mobile wars are total, the young and old are targets. The devastation is near total in many parts of the world.
· Nations competing with one another for markets.
· The Era of Electronics and the world domination by the USA. 1945 on, until now.
· Nuclear for weapons and then for power. Space exploration and its use. The collapse of the soviet bloc. The plastic industry. Globalisation and shipping containers to aid competition for the cheapest workers. The gradual use of robots in manufacturing. Global economy and communication spurred by competition. It’s the ultimate exploitation of people and planet for mainly the 0.1% of the people.
· The military economy. Use of drones for military purposes. NATO verse BRIC powers.
· This led to depletion of resources and pollution on a world scale, which will change the climate to an unliveable state for most life including ourselves.
· Without realising, we are now in charge of heating the global climate.
The current civilised system will be the end of the 0.1% wealthy people, so it’s in their interest, and that means our interest as well, we must help them to survive so that we can change the direction we are heading; so we can all survive.
What we need to overcome, to survive.
Our education (indoctrination) we received to grow the economy and to justify the domination of people and nature, which isn’t seen as it became a part of us. With some effort that indoctrination can be removed, this is possible because we have no alternative and it’s necessary to survive.
The economy used by any living thing is its paramount identity, which directs the way that life lives. If for some reason the economy used by a particular species is incompatible with nature it will cease to live. The option we have should be strong enough for people to take the trouble to think and change the system.
*After I had finished this, I looked up the internet to see anything on that subject and at a glance I could see that Vermeij could be of interest. (An Economic History by Geerat J. Vermeij ) Published by Princeton University Press
Lionel Anet is a member of Sydney U3A University of the Third Age, of 20 years standing and now a life member
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