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I dunno, it seems to be one of those ideas in the zeitgeist : modern sedentary society is bad, which has its roots in ancient agricultural society, therefore agriculture was always A Bad Thing. I remain unconvinced. With agriculture, you don't have to leave your parents to die off in the wilderness when they can't follow the tribe. Surely that's a pretty good thing?

I don't think herders should be idolized in comparison either. In one of Malcolm Gladwell's books, I don't remember which one, there's a chapter on the fact that people from pastoral cultures are more prone to violence and are vindictive little motherfuckers (I am paraphrasing here). If a single head of cattle is worth much more than say, a tomato, and that your movable goods are literally moving around, it makes sense to be sanguine about protecting your property. Heck, look at "cowboys", it's literally in the name. Cowboy history is always about family feuds, cattle wars, lawlessness, etc. It's the whole mythos!

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