A Brief History of the World

I'm currently reading Chris Harman's A People's History of the World. I highly recommend checking it out for those of you who haven't heard of it.

In broad strokes the history of the world is surprisingly simple.

It essentially almost always consists of a period of time of mass cooperation towards achieving stability and increasing production (for most of human history this was mostly food). This period is usually followed by one in which, gradually, in order to organize production efforts and manage surplus resources some are given this role instead of actually producing. This is followed by the hereditary inheritance of these roles as they gradually accrue more power and become based in an ideology of superiority and control by the elite. Then elite claim full ownership of the surplus as their (birth)right, condemn the people for wanting a decent cut of their own efforts, and squeeze the masses harder to obtain more surplus. Then the people finally have enough, turn on the elite, forcing better treatment or burning the current institutions to the ground. Lastly, a new period of innovation and production occurs, creating an even greater surplus and spurring significant change in advancements and civilization compared to the other times of this cycle.

The most remarkable thing to me is that the very rich never see the upheaval coming. The reason? Death. As generations pass, people growing up in a system where some look after and control the surplus begin to feel that control of that surplus is their birthright. They begin to believe that the common man, who wants a survivable wage and decent treatment, is their enemy, not their neighbor or friend.

This sort of thinking is even more dangerous with automation just on the horizon. The wealthy yet again believe that they have found an opportunity to write the common man out of the picture and reap the benefit purely without consequence. And, as usual, they are wrong.

I, for one, support automation. I think it's going to create some fascinating possibilities for our society and for individuals within it. But I also think it's going to create a period of upheaval, where society is going to have to be reorganized significantly.

Certain technologies, like cryptocurrency, are going to help us navigate this period. But the outcome is anything but guaranteed. It reminds me of a thought I had on the subject of history. Most people think you should study history in order to stop it from repeating itself, but I'm not sure that's a worthwhile reason: history seems to always manage to do so anyway.

The reason to study history is to understand current events and developments in their proper contexts. It's so that you can see what's coming and prepare for it.

Are you prepared?