Geela Margo Ramos

Period 5
September 02, 2015

Socratic Discussion Questions: Was Farming a Good Idea? + Chapter 2 Main Points

What evidence can you find in the reading to support your choice (point of view of the
author)? How would you rewrite the article to make it reflect another point of view or to
make it as objective as possible?

The author of the article reflects on how the hunter-gatherer way of life may have not been as
worse off as thought compared to settled farming societies. His/her point of view may be
interpreted as an argument saying that farming wasnt necessarily the greatest idea in comparison
to the hunter-gatherer way of life when it still had its own consequences to consider. Lots of
his/her article gives details on not only some of the cons brought on by farming, but how the
hunter-gatherer way of life did not lead to that specified con. One example is how introduces the
third paragraph and then elaborates furthermore on the differences between the two and the topic
the paragraph discusses: In addition to the potential for illness and bad health, farming also set
in motion forces that have resulted in the development of class divisions and gender inequality.
Hunter-gatherers had little opportunity to accumulate possessions....

If I were to rewrite this article to make it reflect another point of view, I would have it focused
more on what was beneficial that came as a result of farming. It would be important to include
details of the first civilizations that emerged because of this era and how it became the
foundation to our lives now.

Create an advantages and disadvantages chart for Hunter Gatherer Way of Life and
Settled Farming. Write as many as you can think of.
 evidence might you offer to support this claim, and how might you argue against it?
The Agricultural Revolution marked a decisive turning point in human history. What
Had to work extra hard
More often increasingly relied on a single crop
Attack by locusts or a drastic change in weather could result in
famine
Accumulated garbage
ges
Shared housing and diseases with their domesticated animals
Because of dense populations, a new phenomenon appeared:
disease epidemics
Disadvanta
Had set the development of class divisions and gender
inequality due to accumulations of possessions and the time in
between pregnancies (afecting how women suddenly became
tied to the home)
Surpluses of food
Farming
Abundance of material goods
Life expectancies grew higher
Job specilization in turn led to the frst cities, central
governments, writing systems, law codes, and monumental
Settled Advantages
buildings
Could accumulate possessions
Led to the highly advanced and technologically sophisticated
way of life we enjoy today
Could not carry much - only essentials
Had less technological advancements
Are outclassed against farming socities
ges
Had to build houses out of hides, bone, and sinew
Had to check hides to soften them for clothings
Disadvanta
Had to forage for roots
Had to hunt wooly mammoths for meat
Life
Did not to work as hard as those in farming societies (12-
15 hours a week)
Diet was more varied and healthier
Way of
Had a wide array of plants and animals to choose form
Leaving camps to follow herds meant leaving trash and
Advantages
germs behind
Gatherer
Did not have to accumulate possessions
Pregnancies spaced out around 4 years each
Hunter-
Evidence such as how it had affected the relationship between humankind and other living
things, since the agricultural revolution brought the ability to actually be able to actively change
nature itself for our benefits and needs. I could continue on with how the emergence of
agriculture itself came so late in the countless millennia of human life. This would lead towards
how with agricultural came a decision that we as humans had to make in order to adapt our
continuously changing environment...Arguing against it, I would more go along the lines of how
with farming came more unexpected consequences as there were benefits, leading on to
elaborating more towards how the hunting-gathering way of life wasnt worse off than settled
farming societies. Another point in considering when arguing against it being a decisive turning
point in human history was why it happened, focusing more on the actual cause of it what had
pressured us into finding a new lifestyle rather than what came after because of it (like naming
the start of global warming on Earth the decisive turning point rather than the agricultural
revolution).

What accounts for the emergence of agriculture after countless millennia of human life?

For countless of millennia of human life, there was no immediate threat that may have posed
reason for us to change our hunting-gathering lifestyle. However, 16,000 years ago when the
global warming process started, the threat of the extinction of various large mammals from
climate condition changes and active hunting may have been one of the reasons to why the
emergence of agriculture for humankind.

In what ways did agriculture spread? Where and why was it sometimes resisted?

Agriculture had spread through both diffusion and the spread of languages and cultures of
migrating farmers throughout the world in various regions, like culture from Southwest Asia
spreading to Europe, Central Asia, Egypt, and North Africa between 6500 and 4000 BCE or
India receiving agricultural influences from the Middle East, Africa, and China alike. However,
in regions like New Guinea, the western coast of North America, southern Africa, and artic
regions, the spread of agriculture was resisted because of harsh climate conditions or just having
a great natural abundance in a region that there was no real need for agriculture.

What was revolutionary about the Agricultural Revolution?

By changing the relationship between humans and nature, it led to an increase of human
population and had been the foundation to the start of settled farming villages which eventually
grew to civilizations and soon empires. It also had brought an explosion of technological
innovation, whereas early agricultural villages such as Banpo revealed this for pots, textiles, and
metallurgy. A further set of technological changes appearing in 4000 BCE were the secondary
products revolution, exercising new uses for domesticated animals like milking, riding, and
hitching plows and carts. Overall, early agricultural societies had brought on the deliberate
change of the land with the beginning of settled agricultural life. For example, in parts of the
Middle East, with a thousand years after the beginning of the agricultural revolution, signs of
deforestation and soil erosion could be seen.

What different kinds of societies emerged out of the Agricultural Revolution?

Different kinds of societies emerged such as pastoral societies, village-based lineage

(agricultural) societies, and stateless agricultural societies. Pastoral societies relied much more
heavily on animals since farming was much more difficult. As for agricultural societies, there
was maintenance of equality and freedom without kings, chiefs, bureaucrats, and aristocrats.
There was no indication of male or female dominance. Village-based agricultural societies were
organized by kinship, group, or lineage which performed the functions of government.
Sometimes in these societies, modest social/economic inequality developed where elders could
win privileges and take control of female reproductive powers. There were also chiefdoms.

How did chiefdoms differ from stateless agricultural societies?

Chiefdoms differed from stateless agricultural societies for their chiefs would rely on the
generosity/gift giving of the people as well as ritual status or personal charisma to persuade their
followers. As chiefdoms appeared, there was distinction between the elite and the commoners.

Taken as a whole, do you think the Agricultural Revolution was a good thing?

Overall, the Agricultural Revolution transformed humankind greatly as it directed the evolution
of life, giving Homo sapiens a growing power over other species with the ability to manipulate
plants and animals (plus the land) for their own purposes. Agriculture made gigantic leaps for
human population and it had set the foundation for civilizations and their distinctions within their
societies.