I've heard it said that farming communities didn't have ranks and hierarchies, and cities weren't full of authoritarian warrior politicians... yet. That is, the belief that if you started out with agriculture and cities, you could be perfectly free, only because no assholes had shown up to take over and rule you. But the moment one single asshole found you, it was all over. You couldn't do anything to resist absolute authoritarian tyranny. Because you had farming and cities. You can only resist without those things existing anywhere in the world.
I'd like to say that belief is unfounded but um... (gestures around everywhere at everything).
(See also: the plot of Bioshock)
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@cy
> You couldn't do anything to resist absolute authoritarian tyranny
Graeber and Wengrow suggest otherwise. Exploring the evidence that farming communities, and even cities, that were ...
"... organized on robustly egalitarian lines, with no need for authoritarian rulers, ambitious warrior-politicians, or even bossy administrators."
... were perfectly capable of defending themselves from neighbours that had these, and had methods for suppressing their emergence within their own cultures.
