NeonSnake on Nostr: I just finished reading Scott's "Against The Grain". Overall, I think it's ...
I just finished reading Scott's "Against The Grain".
Overall, I think it's *excellent*.
Like "The Dawn Of Everything" - obviously published later, but I read it first - I think it does a cracking job of dismantling the classical view of "we moved, linearly and with little choice, from hunter-gatherer to horticulture to agriculture to ooops, we inevitably invented the State" and positioning State-hood as something that was *not* inevitable.
I think this is important, as a lot of conversations, even today, revolve around "yeah, sure, but, but, but: you can't have large-scale co-operation without a State, so...overall, wasn't it a good thing?"
Overall, I think it's *excellent*.
Like "The Dawn Of Everything" - obviously published later, but I read it first - I think it does a cracking job of dismantling the classical view of "we moved, linearly and with little choice, from hunter-gatherer to horticulture to agriculture to ooops, we inevitably invented the State" and positioning State-hood as something that was *not* inevitable.
I think this is important, as a lot of conversations, even today, revolve around "yeah, sure, but, but, but: you can't have large-scale co-operation without a State, so...overall, wasn't it a good thing?"