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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 21275, member: 57463&quot;]I agree.&nbsp; One of my favorite reads was MERCHANT AND MONEYMEN about medieval commerce.&nbsp; It opens in the Dark Ages with a merchant in 700 AD preparing for a voyage to Constantinople.&nbsp; Good times, or bad times, it is more a matter of what you make of them than a matter how lucky you were born into this century or that.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Civilizations (plural) came and went, but now, the entire globe is one civilization. The Greeks colonized their world from the Black Sea to Spain, from what is now Marseille to what is now Benghazi. Alexander&#039;s generals ruled in what is now Afghanistan.&nbsp; The Romans also colonized Britain, Spain, France, and Romania (of course) and other places.&nbsp; In both cases, people left overcrowded situations and found new lands, away from the troubles of the homeland.&nbsp; Then there was America.&nbsp; Now where do we go?&nbsp; How do you get away from a global society in decline?</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I found a book called AGAINST THE GRAIN it is about how the agricultural revolution could be the death of us all.&nbsp; I read these same ideas in two science fiction books by L. Neil Smith.&nbsp; Agriculture depends on slavery, metes out starches that you cannot build brain cells from, assigns boring repetitive work, and so on.&nbsp; Hunter-gatherers get plenty of protein and have interesting problems to solve and everyone has weapons that keep leaders in line.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t see the world going over to a global society of free ranging hunters.&nbsp; It is, however, an option for the individual.&nbsp; The problem is that everything I identify with civilzation -- writing, numbers, astronomy, ceramic dishes -- came from agricultural societies.&nbsp; I don&#039;t know how to reconcile the two points of view.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the mean time, I hunt for work and I hunt for coins.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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