Posted on 09/07/2006 5:24:26 AM PDT by Pharmboy
Severe climate change was the primary driver in the development of civilisation, according to new research by the University of East Anglia.
The early civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, South Asia, China and northern South America were founded between 6000 and 4000 years ago when global climate changes, driven by natural fluctuations in the Earth's orbit, caused a weakening of monsoon systems resulting in increasingly arid conditions. These first large urban, state-level societies emerged because diminishing resources forced previously transient people into close proximity in areas where water, pasture and productive land was still available.
In a presentation to the BA Festival of Science on September 7, Dr. Nick Brooks will challenge existing views of how and why civilisation arose. He will argue that the earliest civilisations developed largely as a by-product of adaptation to climate change and were the products of hostile environments.
"Civilisation did not arise as the result of a benign environment which allowed humanity to indulge a preference for living in complex, urban, 'civilized' societies," said Dr. Brooks.
"On the contrary, what we tend to think of today as 'civilisation' was in large part an accidental by-product of unplanned adaptation to catastrophic climate change. Civilisation was a last resort - a means of organising society and food production and distribution, in the face of deteriorating environmental conditions."
He added that for many, if not most people, the development of civilisation meant a harder life, less freedom, and more inequality. The transition to urban living meant that most people had to work harder in order to survive, and suffered increased exposure to communicable diseases. Health and nutrition are likely to have deteriorated rather than improved for many.
The new research challenges the widely held belief that the development of civilization was simply the result of a transition from harsh, unpredictable climatic conditions during the last ice age, to more benign and stable conditions at the beginning of the Holocene period some 10,000 years ago.
The research also has profound philosophical implications because it challenges deeply held beliefs about human progress, the nature of civilisation and the origins of political and religious systems that have persisted to this day. It suggests that civilisation is not our natural state, but the unintended consequence of adaptation to climatic deterioration - a condition of humanity "in extremis".
Dr. Brooks said: "Having been forced into civilized communities as a last resort, people found themselves faced with increased social inequality, greater violence in the form of organised conflict, and at the mercy of self-appointed elites who used religious authority and political ideology to bolster their position. These models of government are still with us today, and we may understand them better by understanding how civilisation arose by accident as a result of the last great global climatic upheaval."
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/651273/posts
He offered himself as a candidate for Grand Poobah and WE ALL know how that came out.
Pharmboy's fault.
The dude's premise would seem to hold true in many other instances. Why did the Americas and Africa lag so far behind? Perhaps they did not go through the trauma of climate change and thus were not forced to 'civilize'. Living in abundant flora and fauna they had no need to advanced agriculture or commerce.
And, that theory of cold climate and civil advance has been around. This latest association may add fuel to that fire. Thanks...
...
Ought be damedyankee, actually....
Mmmm, you already posted it first.
ti peaks in and wonders where she is.......she spots Robt and understands........
Amen, brother. From your lips to God's ears.
I believe that kings and suchlike are the functional equivalent of the Mafia. They demand tribute or else. The only useful function they serve is "protection" from other Mafia dons and their goon squads.
I am a city lover, myself. Cities are exciting places full of interesting people doing interesting things. Innovations spread faster, and are improved faster, due to crossing back and forth between an aggregation of people with many different abilities.
Interesting !!!
Ahem - if you read Brooks' paper you'll see that he's claiming the development of "civilization" was associated with a cold, arid period. "Climate change" just means a change in the climate - hotter or colder. In this case it's colder. Can't people say anything about climate change without being accused of being "envirowacos", even when it's got nothing to do with global warming or the argument about what's going on today? Or is no discussion of climate change permitted at all, in case it lends credibility to all those greeny lefty types who claim it's happening and is a problem?
Can somone explain to me why any change in climate in reference to more or less distant past is referred as "climate change", but when limited to past 50 years or present is always
"GLOBAL WARMING"
Note: this topic is from 9/07/2006. Thanks Pharmboy.
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Thanks. I was getting tired of all the Thompson/Hunter threads.
Wait, what year is this??
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