Gilgamesh -- what do you think?

Please post comments, questions, etc. here by 9 p.m. Wed night

Jared Diamond continued

In class, we came up with the following notes/questions (pasted below)

Please address any of these questions and/or the larger question of whether agriculture was a mistake.

Please read other people's postings before you jump in, so you can see who you agree with and who you disagree with.

* * * NOTES FROM CLASS * * *

But this begs the question of… what do we mean by “better off”?

What makes a civilization successful?


Happy people – if people are not content w/ the way things are they will fight to change it
Happiness differs from contentment

Healthy people – enough doctors

Agreement/peace/security (you can cross the road and not be messed with)

Stability – Leadership/government

No starvation or poverty (or as little as possible)
Having as much food as they need

As high a standard of living as possible

The people that are not the government (citizens) need something to do

Room to change –

Controlled growth and development

Not decreasing in people

Can you grow too much?

Civilization – advanced state with high levels of science industry and govt

Equality or social status everyone agrees with
Hard to get –

Are we looking for a utopia? (Brave New World)

More jobs that use the mind