Sublime

nossa metanarrativa histórica convencional sobre o progresso ambivalente da civilização humana, em que se perdem as liberdades à medida que as sociedades se tornam maiores e mais complexas — foi em ampla medida inventada a fim de neutralizar a ameaça da crítica indígena.

They tended to view individual liberty as animalistic.

is there a causal relationship between scale and inequality in human societies?

The walls split humanity itself into two fundamentally distinct groups: hunter-gatherers and settlers. Hunting and gathering might have remained the majority mode of life across the world until as recently as the 1600s, but those who pursued it have never held the pen of history; it was those inside the walls who would dictate the terms.

those trying to prove that contemporary forms of competitive market exchange are rooted in human nature have pointed to the existence of what they call ‘primitive trade’.

the first farmers were reluctant farmers who seem to have understood the logistical implications of agriculture and avoided any major commitment to it.

It is as though modern forager societies exist simultaneously at two radically different scales: one small and intimate, the other spanning vast territories, even continents.