Wealth inequality is not the only form of inequality that arose due to the advent of farming. Gender inequality is another form of inequality that has been a major aspect of society ever since humans began to farm (The Guardian). Hunter-gathering humans were very egalitarian in regard to the role of women in their societies (Ibid.). Studies have shown that women in hunter-gathering societies had equal influence in group decisions in regard to where the group lives and with whom they live (Ibid.). Mark Dyble, the leading anthropologist in this study, stated: “There is still this wider perception that hunter-gatherers are more macho or male-dominated. We’d argue it was only with the emergence of agriculture when people could start to accumulate
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Through the discovery of the Americas and the Columbian Exchange in the late-15th century and throughout the few centuries, pathogens such as smallpox and measles infected the native Americans (Shmoop). Over the next 3 centuries, the population dropped from at least 40 million to around 25 million, many of whom were of African or European descent (Ibid.). Over 90% of the native American population was wiped out because of the introduction of these new diseases …show more content…
It has enabled us to basically conquer the world. We have developed technology that allows us to do previously difficult things easier, faster, and smarter. We know a lot more about our world and beyond. We can communicate with anyone almost anywhere and we constantly have access to information right at our fingertips. But is it really worth it if we now have children dying of hunger because they can’t afford food or their crops have been decimated by drought or by famine? Is it worth it if humans around the world were subject to other humans, treated like the oxen that toll the land along with them? Is it worth it if people are either sick, have died, or are dying because diseases are able to spread more easily or that now, the only known place in our universe that can sustain our existence is slowly dying away because of industrialization and the adoption of farming? Our hunter-gathering ancestors would not have known that these things would happen or the answer to these questions, but we do, and it is worth at least realizing that farming could possibly be “the worst mistake in the history of the human race”
Through the discovery of the Americas and the Columbian Exchange in the late-15th century and throughout the few centuries, pathogens such as smallpox and measles infected the native Americans (Shmoop). Over the next 3 centuries, the population dropped from at least 40 million to around 25 million, many of whom were of African or European descent (Ibid.). Over 90% of the native American population was wiped out because of the introduction of these new diseases …show more content…
It has enabled us to basically conquer the world. We have developed technology that allows us to do previously difficult things easier, faster, and smarter. We know a lot more about our world and beyond. We can communicate with anyone almost anywhere and we constantly have access to information right at our fingertips. But is it really worth it if we now have children dying of hunger because they can’t afford food or their crops have been decimated by drought or by famine? Is it worth it if humans around the world were subject to other humans, treated like the oxen that toll the land along with them? Is it worth it if people are either sick, have died, or are dying because diseases are able to spread more easily or that now, the only known place in our universe that can sustain our existence is slowly dying away because of industrialization and the adoption of farming? Our hunter-gathering ancestors would not have known that these things would happen or the answer to these questions, but we do, and it is worth at least realizing that farming could possibly be “the worst mistake in the history of the human race”