That Neolithic R/Evolution entailed the domestication, control, and command of grains, animals, and even people. Think of the organized labor necessary to prepare, conserve, and maintain the dikes, canals, and levees needed for irrigated farming on alluvial floodplains. Think of silt as both initial gift and final curse. The control of people’s labor began as a matter of willing cooperation for the greater good of the many but eventually evolved into unwilling coercion for the greatest good of the few. Do not, therefore, ever, ever confuse the normalcy of civilization with the inevitability of
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