Pre-Scarcity

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= refers to a prior phase of human history before the Scarcity paradigm became dominant.

Description

Paul D. Fernhout:

"The world used to have endless abundance compared to human wants:

See: "The Original Affluent Society [of the Hunter-Gatherers]" at http://www.primitivism.com/original-affluent.htm

"Hunter-gatherers consume less energy per capita per year than any other group of human beings. Yet when you come to examine it the original affluent society was none other than the [hunter-gatherers'] - in which all the people's material wants were easily satisfied. To accept that [hunter-gatherers] are affluent is therefore to recognise that the present human condition of [humanity] slaving to bridge the gap between ... unlimited wants and ... insufficient means is a tragedy of modern times."

Call this time "pre-scarcity" before populations grew and militaristic bureaucracies arose like hurricanes on a warming ocean and humanity had to switch to agriculture and suffer the resulting worse nutrition from less diversity of sources. Human skeletons actually were shorter from the advent of agriculture until only reaching hunter-gatherer stature about this century.

See at http://press.princeton.edu/titles/6812.html

"For instance, the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago has commonly been seen as a major advancement in the course of human evolution. However, as Larsen provocatively shows, this change may not have been so positive. Compared to their hunter-gatherer ancestors, many early farmers suffered more disease, had to work harder, and endured a poorer quality of life due to poorer diets and more marginal living conditions. Moreover, the past 10,000 years have seen dramatic changes in the human physiognomy as a result of alterations in our diet and lifestyle. Some modern health problems, including obesity and chronic disease, may also have their roots in these earlier changes."

There were "pre-scarcity" myths from those times: http://www.marcinequenzer.com/horn_of_plenty.htm

"In our Seneca Tradition, the Field of Plenty is seen as a spiral that has its smallest revolution out in space and its' largest revolution near the Earth. ... When the cornucopia was brought to the Pilgrims, the Iroquois People sought to assist these Boat People in destroying their fear of scarcity. The Native understanding is that there is always enough for everyone when abundance is shared and when gratitude is given back to the Original Source. The trick was to explain the concept of the Field of Plenty with few mutually understood words or signs. The misunderstanding that sprang from this lack of common language robbed those who came to Turtle Island of a beautiful teaching." (http://www.pdfernhout.net/the-true-cost-of-Princeton.html)


More Information

  1. Abundance
  2. Post-Scarcity
  3. Field of Plenty